Ok, Jimmy, I'll bite.

By the only yardstick we have available, the last hundred or so years for which there are records, the warming we are seeing is indeed quite unusual.

The mechanics of greenhouse gases' effect on the atmosphere are well understood and documented. [Shorter wavelength radiation from the sun goes through the greenhouse gases without effect and hits the earth, is reflected back at longer wavelengths which excite (add energy) to the gases before escaping.] I do not believe it is coincidence that the measurable percentage increases in atmospheric greenhouse gases exactly track the industrial revolution. We humans have put a lot of CO2, methane, et. al., into the atmosphere and we know what that does and how it does it. The detective told the husband, "I followed your wife to a motel where she met another man. I watched through the window ad they kissed and undressed each other, then they turned out the lights and I couldn't see any more." "Damn it," the husband said. "That's what I hate. Always that element of doubt." Feel free to doubt, Jimmy, but the evidence is very much against you.

Jimmy, in Alaska, Canada, and Siberia, the permafrost is melting. "So what" you say? Forget the millions of dollars damage to roads and building foundations. Not important. Really. We are on a knife's edge looking at the tipping point. There are more than 100 billion tons of methane (a greenhouse gas 25-70 times more potent than CO2 depending on duration of measurement) trapped in the permafrost (70+ billion tons in Siberia alone) that even as I write this are escaping into the atmosphere at unprecedented rates, and we are perilously close (temperature-wise) to the trigger point that will start an unstoppable, positive feedback cycle of warming and additional release. God help us if the methane clathrates in the arctic underseas let go. Already nearly 10 million tons a year are escaping from the East Siberian arctic shelf and in 2010, methane levels in the Arctic were measured at 1850 nmol/mol, a level scientists described as being higher than at any time in the previous 400,000 years. Historically methane levels would be at about 600 nmol/mol during "warm" periods, and half that level during ice ages. Oceans are warming, pH levels rising (acidification from increased CO2), and algae which produce 70-80% of the earth's oxygen are decreasing. "...not at ALL established that a warmer planet is a bad thing"? I beg to differ.

You may be right, but maybe, just maybe we can keep from making the situation worse. I have seen estimates that if we stopped using fossil fuels immediately we might see temperatures stop rising in 20 to 50 years. They wouldn't go back down, the CO2/methane genie is already out of the bottle so to speak. But the greater the total rise, the greater the destruction of the habitat, and the greater the likelihood the planet will become unlivable.

There are lots of people thinking rationally, doing research and gathering hard data. Unfortunately the people who might actually be in a position to do something (i.e., our elected "leaders" ) are not included in that group. This is more than a matter of social control, it is a matter of survival of the human race. Quite frankly, I don't think we will make it.

So, instead, let's just stand there with our thumbs up our asses and wait for the impending juggernaut to crush us? At the very least we need to argue less about whether climate change is happening, and work more on a plan for survival.

No doubt our fearless leaders will see us safely through this crisis and we'll all live happily ever after. For a little while, at least.

tanstaafl.

ps: Even though I disagree vehemently with almost everything you said [in this post; generally I am in accord with you] I am greatly appreciative of how organized and well written it was. Please keep up the good work!

db