Global Warming: Fact or Fiction

"Man did not weave the web of life- he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself." Chief Seattle, 1854
Since the mid-1800s, human activities- chiefly the burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gases) and the clearing of land- have increased the amounts of heat trapping atmospheric gases. Most of the burning takes place in automobiles, electric power plants and industrial facilities. The clearing of land reduces the amount of carbon dioxide that trees and other plants remove from the atmosphere.
Although researchers have not yet fully proved that the increase in greenhouse gases has raised the surface temperature, many scientist consider such a relationship likely. A smaller number of scientist argue that the increase in greenhouse gases has not made a measurable difference in the climate. These scientists say that the warming trend is a normal change in the climate system.
The global cooling trend that began in the 1940s was reversed in the la...