Some strong opinions coming across on this thread.
In my employment I am deeply involved with Environmental analysis and work alot with environmental scientists.
So lets cut to the chase and deal with established fact -
Is the climate changing? YES.
Has the climate changed before? YES.
Has the recent climate change accellerated since humans started burning fossil fuels? YES.
Based on scientific evidence, is it going to get worse before it gets better? YES.
Did the movie "An inconvenient Truth" have innaccuracies in it? YES.
But was the basic message of "An Inconvenient Truth" correct? YES.
The potential problem is that many people refer to the past and say that climate shifts are a natural occurance - and they are correct - to a point....
The current climate shift is distinctly different from previous ones. Clear cut proof is available from observations in the North and South pole where ice is melting that has been there for 10,000s of years. The average atmospheric tempreture has went up and down for many millenium but current observations show a much higher jump, especially in the polar regions.
So the end is simply this - the climate is changing and we are at the very least a contributing factor and the current climate shift is one of the most significant shifts in many 1000s of years . If we do not curtail the burning of fossil fuel it will get worse.
To say that this subject is "hype" is a nonsense, and is generally reffered to in this way by people who simply do not know anything about the subject or cannot be bothered to check.
