So my friend Luc posted this link on Facebook along with this comment"

Hate to say I told you so... no, I don't.
Global warming is a myth.....

I decided to post my response here because I figure I should update this thing periodically when I have something to say:

Global Warming is a stupid name for it.

Here's what we know:

- Via geological records we know that the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is increasing at a faster rate than it has in the Earth's known geological history.

- As the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere increases, the radiation from the sun is still able to penetrate the Earth's atmosphere on the way in but less of it is allowed to escape after it is reflected by the oceans because of the change in wavelength of the radiation.

So what is the overall effect? Who knows, we can barely predict weather patterns a day out half the time.

However, it's going to change the climate. It's hard to argue that trapping more solar radiation within the atmosphere won't. Now complex organisms such as ourselves have a much harder time evolving to suit our environments than small organisms. It is possible that we could change the environment so as to make the Earth uninhabitable for humanity and we'll all die out. This is why I hate all of the "save-the-planet" jokers. The planet will be fine; we just may not be able to live on it.

So the decision to make is one of risk-reward. Do we make a change in our behavior and make near-term life a little harder in attempt to prolong the existence of human-kind or do we keep going the way we are and possibly kill ourselves off? Me, I don't really care as I already see humanity as a failed experiment circling the toilet bowl waiting for someone to flush (to paraphrase George Carlin). Besides, I'm waiting for the Mega-Volcano under Yellowstone to get us (it's got a 600,000-year eruption cycle and we're at 640,000-years since the last one). But really, this is the decision that we have to make.