I'm going to make this very simple because all of the writeups in this node are already way too long.
Yes, we can say with a good deal of certainty that average global temperatures are increasing. What we cannot say is that humans are "one of the main causes" of this, as the noders above me have so casually stated.
The root of my argument lies in the science behind the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect is the idea that certain gases, known as "greenhouse gases", enter our atmosphere and trap sunlight and heat energy from the sun, which subsequently increases temperatures. This much I can agree with. The real crux of this issue is what percentage of the greenhouse effect can be attributed to humans.
The percentage number is .28% (source). That is, about one quarter of a percentage of the greenhouse effect is caused by all man made greenhouse gases, and this number includes ALL greenhouse gases we create, not just carbon dioxide.
This is mainly because the number one most abundant and most planet-warming greenhouse gas out there is...
WATER VAPOR! 95% of the total greenhouse effect can be attributed to water vapor. Carbon dioxide is number two, with 3.6% of the greenhouse effect being attributed to it, but keep in mind that MAN-MADE CARBON DIOXIDE CONTRIBUTES .117% OF THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT. The other 3.5% comes from nature. Every animal AND PLANT that exists creates carbon dioxide. Saying deforestation causes global warming is ridiculous, because although trees do absorb carbon dioxide when they create sugars by photosynthesis, they also exhale carbon dioxide when they respirate (burn those sugars they made). Next on the list is nitrous oxide, which nature creates in far greater quantities than mankind ever has, and methane, which comes from decaying organic matter on the floors of your precious forests, and the buttholes of animals all over the world.
It is the height of blind naivety to even suggest that man-made greenhouse gases are warming the planet up.
Aside from this, I have another issue with all these environmentalists running around claiming global temperatures "are predicted" to rise 10 degrees in the next century. Even the best meteorologists that money can buy have trouble predicting weather patterns even a few days in the future, but "environmental scientists" are claiming they can predict weather patterns a century in advance?! That's INCREDIBLE!
As far as Time magazine goes, in the late 60's Time was warning us about how "Global Cooling" was bringing about another ice age. They will report anything to make a buck. Fear mongering is a far better marketing strategy than actually being correct.
Oh yeah, and about this "Kyoto Treaty" that everyone above me seems to be so keen on supporting, let me quote exactly from my source website above:
"The Kyoto Protocol calls for mandatory carbon dioxide reductions of 30% from developed countries like the U.S. Reducing man-made CO2 emissions this much would have an undetectable effect on climate while having a devastating effect on the U.S. economy. Can you drive your car 30% less, reduce your winter heating 30%? Pay 20-50% more for everything from automobiles to zippers? And that is just a down payment, with more sacrifices to come later.
Such drastic measures, even if imposed equally on all countries around the world, would reduce total human greenhouse contributions from CO2 by about 0.035%.
This is much less than the natural variability of Earth's climate system!
While the greenhouse reductions would exact a high human price, in terms of sacrifices to our standard of living, they would yield statistically negligible results in terms of measurable impacts to climate change. There is no expectation that any statistically significant global warming reductions would come from the Kyoto Protocol."
I can't believe that I'm the first person on this site to be saying any of this.