On Thursday, October 18, 2012 10:39:34 PM UTC+1, Stephen Davenport wrote:
On Thursday, October 18, 2012 8:32:16 PM UTC+1, Steve Jackson wrote:





Stephen, I hope my A level students will rationalise that warming in



Scandinavia might just be more than a localised event, mirrored



perhaps in the UK, so certainly of continental proportions, long



before fossil fuel burning became an issue.



===========



Well, I hope they're smart enough to notice a faulty syllogism that concludes the *certainty* of a continent-wide phenomenon based on flimsy premises of "might just be" and "mirrored perhaps". And "continental proportions" still ain't global.





Stephen.

I am bemused by people (not just Steve) using past variations in the climate to justify sceticism over global warming.

I would hope everyone on USW would accept:-
1. The earth has warmed over the last 100 years
2. CO2 is a greenhouse gas and mankind has been pumping it into the atmosphere.

The only real arguments should be over the relative importance of other factors influencing the Earths climate and positive/negative feedback mechanisms. As these are poorly understood then it seems commonsense that attempts should be made to minimise mankinds affect on the atmosphere.

Saying the Earth's been warmer/colder in the past is irrelevant, of course it has!

Graham
Penzance