I agree that putting CO2 into the atmosphere in record numbers is bad. I disagree that it is the sole cause of global warming...

Nobody is saying Co2 rise is the sole cause of global warming. What many are saying is that there is a strong correlation between Co2 levels preceding global temperature variations. There link is obvious, and that is, in part, why it is so concerning. We have a half-million years of ice cores demonstrating temperature and Co2 correlation. We're now at the highest level of Co2 in many tens of thousands of years, and the last point at which we experienced this level of Co2, the planet got warm enough to completely melt the northern ice cap, turn Greenland into a paradise, and raise the sea level to the point that most of today's coastline was underwater.

That global warming is happening is incontrovertible fact. The implications of it may be in doubt, and I agree with you that it is not all doom-and-gloom. Equatorial regions won't show much change, while the poles will. Last year, the fabled Northwest Passage opened for the second time in recorded history, and it looks as if it's going to do it again this year. If that happens, we'll have a direct and easy trade route between Russia and Northern Europe to the US.

Harbors in northwest Canada will open up, and we'll gain much more arable land for farming which currently has too short a growing season. Texas will still suck to live in. That's nothing new.

There are quite a few negatives to global warming, but a large number of positives as well. The horse has already left the barn, so to speak, and our money and research in this area should be focused on how to deal with the trend, not how to stop it. No matter what side of the aisle you're on on the global warming issue, fingers in the dike won't make a difference within our lifetimes.

That said, though, I think it's worthwhile to find ways to reduce Co2 emissions until we have a better understanding of the problem. The Earth is in no danger from our excesses... but we are.

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Matthew P. Barnson