[Sabertooth]

sheesh, the only people who don't think CO2 has a big role now are the auto & gas companies...

Not really true.

We're only just beginning to understand mesoscale global weather patterns, which fluctuate on a millenial scale. To presume that a limited database of 19th Century meteorolgy is a sufficient baseline to ascertain whether human CO2 emmissions are causing some sort of global warming is not exactly sound science.

And guess what else we don't undestand very well... Mesoscale Solar weather patterns.

Think that fluctations in the Sun's weather might have an effect on Earth's weather?

We don't even know why the last Ice Age ended 12,000 years ago, but we know that global warming was involved.

Any evidence of 12,000 year-old smokestacks anywhere?

[FreeTheHostages]

I know there are decadal and centurial cycles too that we don't understand. Actually, in the latest publication, they note that they don't comprehend all heterogenous causes of those cycles with longer periodicity. But that's different from saying "we" don't understand that human industrial activity is contributing to warming. Among all but auto & gas companies, that's now a recognized scientific fact. I have a friend who's a pretty conservative guy, re-engineered rocket scientist now doing atmospheric stuff, and he says that among all reasonable scientist it's pretty much settled that a lot of recent warming trend, since 1940s, is attributable to human activity. So I don't know who you mean by "we," but my solid Republican scientist friend is who I'm going by. Wishing does not make it so.