Is Global Warming a Crisis?

Global warming has quickly become one of the most heated issues in America (pun intended). Rising temperatures and melting icebergs are indisputable evidence that the Earth is warming, but is this global heat wave a man-made crisis or just overblown hype?

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“No”

“Climate Legislation Would Slow Economy Without Promised Benefits”
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Climate Legislation Would Slow Economy Without Promised Benefits

National Center for Policy Analysis

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The Kyoto Protocol will be costly and do nothing to prevent global warming — even if humans are causing it. Proposed domestic actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions would cost only slightly less than Kyoto and would do even less to prevent global warming.

The National Center for Atmospheric Research asserts that even if all of the signatories to the more stringent Kyoto protocol met their greenhouse gas reduction targets, the earth would be only .07 to 0.19 degrees Celsius cooler than it would be absent Kyoto. Greenhouse gas concentrations would continue to increase because fast growing countries that are exempt from emissions cuts — such as China, India, South Korea, Brazil and Indonesia — will account for as much as 85 percent of the projected increase in the next two decades.

Evidence

Image: Can the Kyoto Protocol Stop Global Warming?; The Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from industrial countries an average of 5 percent below their 1990 levels by 2012. Even if all of the countries complied, the Earth would only be marginally cooler by 2100.

Image: Can Developed Countries Alone Prevent Global Warming?; Greenhouse gas concentrations will continue to increase despite CO2 cuts in developed countries. The reason: Fast-growing countries that do not have to reduce emissions under the Kyoto Protocol -- such as China, India, South Korea, Brazil and Indonesia -- will account for as much as 85 percent of the projected increase in the next two decades.

Link: Regulating Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Link: Global Warming Policy: Some Economic Implications

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"No" NCPA

"No" The Heartland Institute

"Yes" Sierra Club

"Yes" NRDC

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