Is Global Warming a Crisis?

• “Yes”

  

  “A Little Historical Perspective”

• No Objections Yet

A Little Historical Perspective

Natural Resources Defense Council

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Let’s step back and get a little historical perspective on climate change.

In 1965, the President’s Science Advisory Panel said: “Carbon dioxide is being added to the Earth’s atmosphere by the burning of coal, oil and natural gas. This will modify the heat balance of the atmosphere to such an extent that marked changes in climate, not controllable through local or even national efforts, could occur.”

25 years later, NRDC joined with the City of Los Angeles to sue the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration over the climatic impacts resulting from a rollback in fuel economy standards. This was the first case on climate change. In its ruling, the D.C. Circuit Court supported the science of climate change. "[N]o one, including [the federal government], appears to dispute the serious and imminent threat to our environment posed by a continuation of global warming," the court’s decision said, and "[n]o one disputes the causal link between carbon dioxide and global warming.” That was 1990.

Yet today – almost 45 years later – our federal government has still not taken the kind of action needed. And until about a year ago, the government even participated in a systematic distortion of climate change science. As a result, we have delayed action on climate change by years, if not decades.

Let’s be clear here – there is no debate on the science of climate change. There is an overwhelming consensus that average global temperatures are increasing as a result of man-made greenhouse gas emissions. We shouldn’t argue about the science of climate change any more than we argue about the science of gravity.

Next Argument

"Yes" NRDC

• The Debate is Over: It's Time For Action
  3
• A Little Historical Perspective
  3
• Global Warming is Changing Today’s World
  4
• For Some, Global Climate Change Means Survival
  2
• Corporations Are Part of the Answer
  2
• A Green Economy Means Job Opportunities
  3
• The Cost of Climate Change: We Need To Act Now
  3

"Yes" Sierra Club

• Science Is on Our Side
  6
• Global Warming’s Impact Is Already Happening
  6
• How Much Damage Will Be Done?
  6
• It’s an Economic Crisis If We Do Nothing
  5
• Even Bush, U.S. Military, British Petroleum, Wal-Mart Agree With Us
  4
• Who Are Today’s Skeptics?
  4

"No" NCPA

• Scientific Consensus Overstated
  9
• Climate Forecasts Inaccurate
  6
• Computer Models Based on Faulty Assumptions
  5
• Reports of Environmental Crisis from Global Warming Unfounded
  7
• There Are Benefits from Warmer Temperatures and CO2
  6
• Climate Adaptation Better than Mitigation
  5
• Climate Legislation Would Slow Economy Without Promised Benefits
  3
• Carbon Taxes Are the Best Policy for Greenhouse Gas Regulation
  3

"No" The Heartland Institute

• Global Warming Alarmism
  7
• There Is No Scientific Agreement
  7
• Most Scientists Don’t Believe Humans Threaten Earth's Climate
  7
• The Law of Unintended Consequences
  4
• The Politics of Global Warming
  6

Most Objections

• The Politics of Global Warming
  6
• Global Warming Alarmism
  7
• There Are Benefits from Warmer Temperatures and CO2
  6
• Reports of Environmental Crisis from Global Warming Unfounded
  7
• It’s an Economic Crisis If We Do Nothing
  5
• The Debate is Over: It's Time For Action
  3

Is Global Warming a Crisis?

• Yes
• No

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