"Hardly a day goes by without some kind of warning that mankind's use of fossil fuels, especially in the U.S., is causing global warming. Stossel looks at the numbers. Half of this century's global warming happened between 1900 and 1945. Stossel asks, "If man is responsible, why wasn't there much more warming in the second half of the century? We burned much more fuel during that time."
By the way, if there is global warming, it might be a godsend. According to Harvard astrophysicist Sallie Baliunas, added carbon dioxide helps plants grow. Warmer winters give farmers a longer growing season, and the warming might end the droughts in the Sahara desert.
There's another consideration. For the past 800,000 years, there have been periods of approximately 100,000 years called Ice Ages, followed by a period of 10,000 years, a period called Interglacial, followed by another Ice Age. We're about 10,500 years into the present Interglacial period – namely, we're 500 years overdue for another Ice Age. If indeed mankind's activity contributes to the planet's warming, we might postpone the coming Ice Age."
I think there is global warming, but to say that it's solely or even mostly man's fault is giving us too much credit, in my opinion. We've burned through almost half of Earth's fossil fuel in a little over 100 years, with only a small measurable effect. I'd bet we could finish off all the fossil fuel on the planet and it won't make much more of a difference. The problem will be....we're out of fossil fuel! How will we make plastics and all the beneficial things we make from oil? Just think of all the oil-based products we use and need....for medicine alone! Ah, but I digress. Look, I'm all about protecting the environment, but the whole global warming thing seems blown out of porportion to me....we can do more for the environment by targeting specific chemicals...look what success we've had with the ozone layer and DDT. Global Warming? Sure, it happens, but we probably don't have a lot to do with it, and it's better for humans to be it a warming trend than a cooling one, so let's celebrate! Of course, I 'm probably wrong, and our coastal cities will all be underwater in 30 years, AND we'll be out of oil. Won't this post look silly?