If you get a sunburn and a skincancer because of high UV, will you even then say that global warming is a scam? I got a serious sunburn last year, never happened to me before, ... I got fried in 2.5 hours. Usually I couldn't even get a tan in 1 week.

It depends on what you mean by global-warming. The temperature of the seas around Britain is rising. The sandeels that seabirds feed on don't like the heat, so they swim deeper, too deep for the birds to dive for them. The birds can't get enough food for their chicks, the chicks die. Just one example of global warming. The contentious issue is not the warming taking place now, it is determining if it is set to continue or if it simply a fluctuation about the average. Some people claim that there is a trend of increasing global temperature. Most informed scientists agree the there is an increasing trend, though of course you can find scientists like the ones hired by tobacco companies who claim that nobody has proved tobacco does you any harm, and they will argue that global warming isn't happening. If there is a trend of increasing temperature, the next question to ask is What is causing it? Most informed scientists, basing their conclusions on evidence currently available, subscribe to the conclusion that the increase in temperature is caused by human activity, and insofar as they can predict the consequences of the change, these will have more or less profound effects on many aspects of the natural world. Of course they could be mistaken, but they probably are not. The tinfoil hat brigade like to believe that the Illuminati (fill in the name of your own favoured bogeymen) make these ideas up, and that scientists just do what they are told. I was a scientist, and nobody ever told me what to think about global warming, and I did some theoretical work that predicted the crash in seabird reproduction as a result of increased water temperatures, so I think that bit is right. So, in conclusion, I don't think it's a scam, even though the idea that there is a trend in the increase of temperature might be shown, in the future, when new evidence is available, to be an error.

It's a total scam. See my earlier post. http://www.answerbag.com/a_view/5208887

Do you mean human-induced climate change, which involves extremes of weather at both ends of the spectrum? That's the more accurate and scientific term to use. No, I don't think it's a scam, and neither do tens of thousands of scientists.

Not at all. I think it's mostly a natural cycle slightly affected by human activity.

No. Do you?

Global warming is happening. The earth is getting warmer, that is a fact. Anyone who thinks it is a scam is either stupid or ignorant or both. The debate surrounding this issue is over what is CAUSING global warming. You may believe that the argument that global warming is a man-made phenomenon is a "scam", but you can't argue that global warming is happening.

Absolutly not! Im only 19 years old and i can tell the difference in the winters from when i was a small child. Global warming IS happening there is no way to deny it.

No...

No.

no i watched a documentary on the polar ice cap where they spoke with the innuits who have been there all their lives and this is the warmest temperatures they have experienced!

No, it's a real life and enormous problem we're facing in today's society.

no. whether one agrees with it or not, it is too inefficient to be a scam. Aside from the few authors who write books and scientists who specialize in this sort of thing, there are are much better ways to scam.

No. it feels very unusual to get rain in December and January in New York! winter here used to strickly mean SNOW...not rain!

No. I think it is real.

Global Warming is a fact. That's why scientists prefer the terminology "Climate Change". There is little doubt that warming is caused by atmospheric conditions. Is there climate change happening now? Again I think both sides of the debate agree things are changing (again some may disagree but it is a minority opinion). Is it due to human influence? Most scientists would say yes although there is dissent on this part of the issue. I am not a climatologist so I cannot speak with any authority on the matter but from what I have learned myself it seems likely that we are having impact. I am not a believer in apocalypse so I am not someone that thinks the planet is doomed, nor do I think humans are doomed (the planet has survived a great deal more calamitous things than climate change and humans have survived climate change in the past) but it could make our existence extremely uncomfortable. It would be a good idea to err on the side of caution in this case as the evidence points to MMCC being true. Even if this were not the case I would be inclined to push for movement away from fossil fuels as ultimately they will not last forever, are not terribly efficient and so will probably not meet our future energy needs, not to mention the political aspects of fossil fuels. Ideally Nuclear Fusion would be the answer but that is really taking alot longer than it should.

Climate change is probably a scam. The level of atmospheric CO2 follows the warming periods throughout history. Now we are expected to believe that CO2 is causing the warming. It's a little like thinking the cart pushes the horse. Follow the money and find the ideology. 1. Humans bad, warming up, government money, pack mentality, lots of scientists. 2. It's not happening, just a blip, private (oil) money, sell outs, fewer scientists. 3. The data is uncertain, climate is always changing (cooling right now), open minds, little money, willing to risk their careers and reputations, nowhere near enough scientists.

No Global Warming is happening! Now some people say that humans are causing it, in all honesty humans only put out 5% to 6% of all carbon emissions in the world! Yes that includes cars, trucks, and planes! Everything we use and make only add up to 5% to 6% of the Earths carbon emissions!

No, it's for real. It's also true that we are having an effect on the changing climate. Damn you, Industrial Revolution!

Okay, I'm sitting here trapped in my house by the worst winter we've had in 15 years. Most of the state has been without power for several days. Several counties don't even have water, because the power is down to the water treatment plant. I couldn't get my car out if I tried. I say its the worst winter we've had in fifteen years, but it is far from over yet. We still have almost two months to go. By the time its over, it could go down in the record books. We had snow before Halloween this year, and we rarely get snow before Christmas around here. Yes, I think global warming is a scam. I think the methodology is highly suspect. We have way too small of a data sample to extrapolate anything from. The standardized Farhenheit thermometer has only been around since the 1700's and it has only been in common use since the 1800's. Records in the US only go back 100 years. Yes, I know about core samples of ice from the poles, but we don't know that those samples are actually continuous and that there hasn't been any melting somewhere along the line. We also don't know if the data we have proves causality or correlation. An awful lot of studies have been done from the "we know global warming exists and we know it is caused by humans so how do we prove it?" point of view, which is NOT how science is supposed to be done. In fact, that is so counter to the scientific method that it really can't be called science. Its superstition at that point. It is becoming the religion of Global Warming rather than the science of Global Warming. In science, you are supposed to postulate a hypothesis, develop an experiment WITHOUT BIAS, perform the experiment and follow where the evidence leads in forming a conclusion. That is what double blind studies are all about. The idea is to develop a study that is completely unbiased. The headlines right now on Yahoo say that a volcano in Alaska is in imminent danger of eruption. When Tanbora erupted in 1815, the following year had no summer throughout much of Europe and Northern U.S. If this blows spectacularly, next year we could be fearing the end of the world as we know it in the other direction.

It is absolutely a scam. Al Gore is getting rich off of everybody's fears. Global warming may be true, but man did not cause it and can do nothing to stop it. The Earth has gone through ice ages before. Was it Global Warming that caused the ice to melt before?

In the 70's the fear was of an impending ice age, the 90's brought fear of global warming, and now to cover their butts in both directions they are calling it climate change. There are over 18,000 dissenting scientists who say that man made climate change is junk science, and many who would, if it didn't mean that their funding would be cut off for their research, because it is not politically correct to disagree with Al Gore. I agree that our climate is changing, but as for warming, no it has not warmed in more than 10 years now, and has actually cooled over the past couple years, right now it is colder than normal in my region and with the exception of the dryness, the summers are pretty much unchanged. I have seen evidence that the average temperature changes on Mars and Venus have reflected those here on Earth, does that mean we are polluting with our greehouse gases, too, or do you think that maybe the sun's cycles have something to do with it? THIS IS NOT TO SAY THAT WE SHOULD NOT BE MORE RESPONSIBLE WITH THE ENVIRONMENT AND STRIVE FOR CLEANER SOURCES OF ENERGY! We should all be more responsible to the planet, but I hate being lied to in order to induce it. All of these hippies, greenies, and Goresheep are out here lambasting people for polluting with their cars and houses and having children (how dare us propagate the species!) while their hero Al Gore has a home in Nashville that uses more energy than 10 normal American homes (even worse since he "greenified" it according to a news article) and jet setting all over the world, riding in limos, all the while calling us bad for not having solar panels on our homes and driving SUV's. I have one thing to say to Al Gore, I do strive to be better and cleaner for my own reasons, but you and your fear machine can bese mi culo!

Of course not. Anybody can look at the data for themselves or even go out and collect it for themselves with the right instruments.

No it is not a scam. It is fact the world is getting warmer, the true cause of it is unknown.

Just like the "Ice Age" of the seventies was.

Yes there are always chicken littles attemping to decieve for their own interests.

Yes, Al Gore is using it as his savings account.

No, it's real.

I think it is quite real. But is this the first time the earth has had this happen? Is man kind the soul perpetrator? Do we fully understand it? Will we adapt?

I have no idea if its a scam or not- it very well might be a scam- it seems a little suspicious to me.

Global warming is widely regarded to be a fact. The debate is whether it is caused mostly by a natural cycle of the Earth, or caused mostly by human activity.

No..it's a serious issue!

i've never heard of the type of storms we're seeing everyyear. call it what you want but the evidence points to 100x more Co2 in the atmosphere trapping the suns heat.

Ole mother earth has done this cycle many times gelogist have proven this theory.We the human element upon her skin are mere insects we cover her with cememnt,contamninate her life blood with suage,plastic and any chemical made by human kind.With human being explosion additional rederick How much longer befor she starts controling human population growth.We do not appear to love our mother never seem to honor her on earth day or any day houses popup on pasture land and fields where are we going to get food from to stack in our local grocery stores shelves?

It is a scam. If you look back into the world's history, you'll see that right before each ice age, the earth gets REALLY warm. I'm not saying with the way we've misused our supplies hasn't contributed to it . . . but it's a natural occurance that happens every so often.

"THE ICE IS MELTING. THE SEA IS RISING. HURRICANES ARE BLOWING. AND IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT." Global Warming is not due to human contribution of Carbon Dioxide. The funny thing is global warming is causing ice to melt on Mars which I believe the last time we checked there still were no cars there. Also, most of the temperature increase happened before 1940. http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=64734

No, it isn't a scam. If you think it is, you are in denial. It may or may not be created by human activity, but just by dating the blossom on trees I know springs are getting earlier and earlier. Sea levels are rising, some island states are already on the move. In sub-Saharan Africa tribes are losing agricultural lands to the desert, in the arctic Inuit peoples watch as ice that has been frozen for generations begins to melt.

just an interesting count here...not that it is by any means an adequate sample...but 20 of you said no, 9 of you said yes, 6 of you said its happening but are still uncertain its our fault and 2 of you didnt state anything really :) thanks for all the anwers :)

I think that good old mother nature is greater then man kind. There are a number of non man-made happenings going on that contribute to a change in climate. The worlds tempreture will never stay constant, fact. Whether we like it or not change will happen.

Of course it is. Need proof? Try a simple scientific experiment. The Global Cooling/Global Warming/Global Climate Change "scam-a-tist" claim that melting ice flows equals catastrophic rise in sea levels. Oh really? Why is it that when a glass of ice water filled mostly with ice is left to melt it ends up with a LOWER water level? The t-shirt I'm wearing contains a highly sensitive BULLSHIT detector and ALL the bells and whistles and flashing lights are going off! WTF ever happened to logic and reason? WTF happened to critical thinking? Are people really so lazy they refuse to think for themselves? It is just one more example of how the enviro-mental-ist and Eco-terrorist want to put you on a guilt trip to make you conform to what they want you to do. (Read: Control.) Don't drink the Kool-Aid. It will lower your IQ.

No.......... I think its real, but I also think its too late to do anything about it........ bad luck kids looks, like you're all screwed!!!

Global Warming is a reality but there are many scams that have been and will be inspired by it. Like for instance if I told you I will stop global warming and all you have to do is get your government to give me a trillion dollars.

It is a process that happens and has happened naturally in cycles throughout Earth's history. It would probably occur regardless of our existence...but there is good evidence that we are helping it along so to speak.

No, living in Alaska, i can tell you that we have so many miles of ice melting and losing land. We lost 6 1/2 inches of land this past year world wide. It is so much warmer than it use to be and the warming does exist.

Twenty and thrity years ago, it was all about the coming Ice Age. The jury is far from being out that global warming is happening and that man has anything to do with it. Back in 1975, there was a prediction that earth's food production would drop by 10% with 10 years, because of shrinking temperatures. http://sweetness-light.com/archive/newsweeks-1975-article-about-the-coming-ice-age http://www.winningreen.com/site/epage/59549_621.htm http://www.investors.com/editorial/editorialcontent.asp?secid=1501&status=article&id=275267681833290 http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/06/james_hansen_abusing_the_publi.html

Global warming is happening. It is happening at an unprecedented rate. This rate coincides with the growth of heavy industry. A reasonable explanation for the accelerated rate is that much of it is caused by the extra carbon dioxide production caused by burning of fossil fuels, which causes a greenhouse effect, trapping in heat. Is it a true explanation? It is certainly far more likely than any of its rivals at the moment, and evidence continues to grow. But to a certain extent it doesn't matter *why* its happening, we need to get on top of it as it won't do us any good... in the longer term it will become harder to make enough food to feed everyone, and whole cities will be displaced by rising sea levels. Because heating water causes it to expand, and the sea is vast, global warming causes the sea level to rise. I once came across some of the data from a satellite measuring sea levels. It measures accurately enough to tell the average temperature of the world's seas on a day by day basis. This was just data collecting on sea levels. Nothing political in it and no conclusions were drawn. The graph shows a very rough twelve-monthly cycle, but one thing is very very clear. The sea level goes up and up year on year and this is obvious to the naked eye on the graph, you don't need a magnifying glass. And this has been going on for as long as the satellite has been up. If you consider this normal, and extrapolate this backwards, the oceans would have been solid ice in historical times. In other words, the recent rise in temperatures is not just geologically fast, but amazingly fast. I can not believe that this is natural. If it is a scam, the scam can only be about how we deal with the problem. Is "carbon trading", for example, a scientifically sensible solution, or a politically motivated one. I don't believe that we are being deliberately misled. In a way it doesn't matter. The rate is so globally high it may be beyond the global resources of man-kind to stop it, let alone reverse it. We need to somehow educate the sceptics. Is it man-kind or not? That's not important! - we need to do what we can to reverse its effect on behalf of our future generations.

I hope it is, but if it isn't, we have work to do.

Yes

I believe it's real. Having said that, I also believe that it is a natural occurence as well. I think we are contributing to it, and that it is also natural.

Yes, without question, the biggest hoax in history.

It's definitely not a scam, but when all scientists agree on how an extremely complex system will react over years to come, you should be cautious. In the eighties, acid rain would be the end of all ocean life. Well, the acid is gone. In the seventies, scientists predicted an ice-age. Well, the ice is melting. I would not be surprised if in fifty years, we have switched to nuclear fusion reactors and our climate will be chilly.

And what a scam it is!! It has spawned an entire industry -- in both the private and public sectors -- all of which DEPEND on maintaining a heathy degree of public FEAR to feed their trough of financing.

NO AND ANYONE WHO THINKS THAT IS A FOOL.

The way it is presented by the media, and folks like Al Gore, I say, yes, it is a "scam" They are trying to sell a product, a new religion, one that has fear at it's roots. There may be some warming happening in some places, but it certainly is not "GLOBAL"! There are actually some glaciers that are growing right now, but does Al Gore, or the media talk about that? Of couse not, that doesn't "sell" If these environmental freaks really believed their own religion, they would all ditch their cars, the computers they use, and anything else that uses up energy. I am not saying we shouldn't be good caretakers of our world, I am just opposed to the idiots of just like to push their new religion down everyones throat!

pretty much

yes Global warning fear mongers are making a lot of money with this fraud.

Even the most rudimentary knowledge of Science reveals that it is a scam. The Medieval Warming Period shows that it is a scam. Believe actual science over the hype of politicans like al gore and the un.