You do not have the scientific credentials and political neutrality to make such a blanket statement, you believe it merely because you've chosen to believe a certain side, rather than investigating and weighing the evidence objectively yourself,
You are wrong, I have worked through college and in two different industries where I did do the research. And it is from there as well as other scientific findings that cannot be disputed that I draw my conclusions. The findings I refer to are hard and fast numbers. Not the "We think, this might be happening" or "Scientists surmise that this might be happening" that you will find most all arguements on the other side of the arguement using.
You cannot deny, even if you take the Greenhouse Gases arguement for face value (which I dont, but for the sake of the arguement here lets just assume). If "Greenhouse Gasses" are the culprits causing "Global Warming" the predominant source of CO2 and Methane are natural coming from the respiration (or other bodily functions) of all living organisms, and from decaying vegitation. Volcanoes, and even pristine Forests also emit them it cant be helped.
Volcanoes in fact are the worst offenders, the quantities of toxic material, aerosols, and particulates spewed into the air from Karakatoa in Indonesia, Mount Katmai in Alaska, and Mount Hekla in Iceland in one eruption each is more than the cumulative polution produced by all of mankind since the beginning of the industrial revolution. ALL OF IT!!!!
But since Volcanoes are a little hard to predict, lets just get to natural items that can be quantified on an annual basis. The single largest producer year in and year out are termites, whose digestive activities are responsible for about 50 BILLION tons of CO2 and methane annually (That is a measurable, firm, definite number that is a fact), an amount that by itself is about 10 times more than the present world production of manmade CO2. And that is just the termites. Cow flatulence itself produces about 50 Million tons, every rotting tree, plant, more and more it is mind boggling. Now obviously you cant stop cows from being gassy or eliminate termites, but it goes to show you that what we produce is such a small blip compared to what mother nature produces and deals with on its own every day. And has been ever since she has been around (long before factories and SUVs).
It would be like if your neighborhood was strategically located between a giant pig farm, a paper mill, and a fish processing plant, and when you didn't like the smell in the neighborhood you tried to get all your friends to sign a petition saying that your neighbor had to stop eating Mexican food because you think his gas was causing the neighborhood to smell.
And that is all I am getting at when I argue against it, and why I bristle up so much when orginizations (whom I know personally from past personal experience) have a particular agenda are playing loosy goosy with scientific rules to get their agenda advanced I say foul. As an engineer it angers me that the people who call themselves "Environmentalists" frame the argument such that you cannot disagree with them without appearing to be "Against clean air and water", and that is just ridiculous we all know that no sane person can be against clean air and water. What I am against is when anyone stifles what can be proven scientifically in favor of things that cannot be proven scientifically because in their words "it is too important not to believe." If you are a scientist (as I have been formally trained to be) you know that there is no consensus in science. There are only facts. Things either are or aren't based on fact.
We obviously are probably never going to change each others mind, I just feel obligated to take the less popular position because the facts I have seen and know tell me that is the side of more truth than I have personally seen from the other side. I do so because most people (especially non technical people) are going to naturally side with the path of least resistance, and that is the way the environmentalists have framed the argument. So be it.
Anyway this has gotten way off GCA topic and I am done. Again I just feel passionately because the argument is always slanted in one direction.
And to get back to the original thoughts, yes it has been a warm December, and I hope it holds on for three more weeks for my Myrtle Beach trip. Guess I better drive the Durango not my Accord for the next couple weeks to insure it.