Anybody who believed global warming was man made are having questions now?

[elprincipe]

highwaystar101 said:

Most of the anti-global warming group here have been attempting, and rather well may I add, to falsify the global warming theory. In fact some of these posts have had me question whether I should accept global warming as a theory or merely a hypothesis that is yet to be proven or unproven.

I just want to clarify that I'm closer to your position, highwaystar, than an "anti-global-warming" position.  The information I posted was in direct response to the selective usage of supposedly scary information to support the theory of global warming.  As usual, such scary propaganda is, frankly, used to shut down debate and get people agitated for action, any action, on the issue instead of taking a wait-and-see approach.  It's also accompanied, inevitably, by exaggeration and hyperbole, things which I abhor especially in a debate about science.

Having studied this issue, but not being an expert, I would say that I'm unconvinced as to if global warming is more than a minor blip in terms of temperature changes or if it could be something that seriously threatens ecosystems on our planet.  I have seen plenty of good arguments and data supporting both positions, and I've seen exaggeration on both sides ("Sea levels could rise 20 feet!" or "Global cooling is now the rule!" for example).  I would encourage people to look at the data and arguments on both sides and decide for themselves, and not take the word of a newspaper article, former vice president with no scientific background and stunning scientific ignorance, or anyone who sets out to 'disprove" the theory of global warming regardless of what facts may be revealed (usually by ignoring them, or cherry picking data). 

Basically, be skeptical of both sides and open to new information.  Climate science is a very young science, and we are discovering more and more we don't know every day about the highly complex relationship between the Sun, the Earth, oceans, clouds, and a whole lot of other factors.  The IPCC uses 40 computer models to predict future climate; every one of these models has been proved wrong by observations.  Next time someone tells you it'll be 8 degrees warmer in 2050 and Greenland will completely melt, take that with a grain of salt.  But don't close your mind to new studies and information that may well indicate that humans are having a significant effect on the Earth's climate.