There is only one goddess Gaia and Al Gore is her only prophet...

[kandrathe]

However, if you're in agreement with reducing CO2 pollution to any meaningful extent, then surely it must trouble you that not only are levels increasing, but rates? We're putting *more* into the atmosphere than ever before, and unless we follow the advice of someone like Al-Gore-Who-You-Dislike-So-Much, that's not going to change until we've burned the last gram of fossil fuel. How does that square with your "common sense"?

I've been a proponent for eliminating coal fired plants when Al Gore was still figuring out if he wanted to be a minister, journalist, or lawyer. I'm not against him for the cause, rather his reactionary conclusions and the dire need to strip peoples freedom and property in order to "Save the Planet". And, by freedom I mean outlawing light bulbs, TV sets, and determining your proper carbon footprint. And, by property, I mean that process where the government separates a person from the fruits of their labors. But, here is the biggest rub; No one listened to me, or others in 1975 onward until the Green wacko's suddenly grew alarmed. I've made the same arguments since the Arpanet days. We've already burnt the baby, so yes, not burning another one would be good, however, what do you plan to do about the gigatons of CO2 already released? The long term trend as we are coming out of an ice age is that the Earth is warming, and AGW may have an influence on that trend, but the science is still unclear. I know some scientists are claiming it is clear, but the critics do need to be able to review the raw data and methods to debunk or corroborate their findings. That is the process of science. My theory is that unlike Venus, the Earth has oceans, and terrestrial ecosystems filled with plants and organisms that absorb CO2 from the atmosphere. I believe the reason that the actual climate is cooler than predicted by the AGW models is that the Earth has complex negative feedback systems that science has yet to fully understand. Also, I doubt that this buffer has infinite capacity for CO2 absorption, and I have no idea how close to "overwhelmed" this buffer system may be either. Finally, the earth might be cooler than expected right now because there is currently very little sun spot activity.