"Global Warming" theory

[elprincipe]

Cactus said:

I'm pretty sure that pollutants are the main contributer to global warming. Just look at the rapid acceleration of the degradation of the atmosphere since the industrial revolution.

Do you really think that human body heat is melting the polar ice caps?

The polar ice caps are not melting; polar ice levels are above average for the time we've been measuring it (only about 30 years, so not much history to draw on).  The Arctic has had declines in ice levels (but has actually increased over the last two years) while the Antarctic ice is at record highs.  But again, we are drawing on very little history to compare to.  You can easily make an argument that the Vikings grew grapes in Greenland around 1000-1100 AD so it must have been warmer there then than it was today. 

It's very difficult to accurately reconstruct climate records from the past to compare to the present, and even trends in the last 150 years show 0.6 degrees C of warming at most.  It's really an argument about the future - will more drastic warming occur with increases in CO2 levels?  Of course, these things are incredibly difficult to predict, and climate science is still in its infancy.

Anyway, this thread cries out for actually gathering information.  Just because it is cold somewhere in the winter does not discredit global warming, any more than one hot day in the summer makes it the gospel truth.  I suggest you read up on the evidence.

Try these sites:

http://www.wattsupwiththat.com

http://www.realclimate.org

Then decide for yourself (those sites are on the opposite sides of the debate, more or less).