Thanks, Ron, I have looked at the first and will probably check out more in the series. The site Shad linked to was indeed a crank site. I have gone out of my way to acknowledge that the science is not totally, 100% conclusive and there is room for some skepticism. But the science is fairly conclusive at this point, and the consequences of doing nothing are severely damaging. If 9 out of 10 doctors told you that you had a serious illness and needed expensive but affordable treatment to save your life or limbs, would you blow them off and take the advice of the 10th doctor because the medical profession was not 100% unanimous? If you as a medical layman with no special knowledge did that, it would be fairly clear that you were being rather foolish, or incredibly cheap, or had a death wish. It's no different here. 90% or more of those who know most about Earth's climate have slowly come round (as data came in) to the conclusion that greenhouse gas concentrations are driving temperatures upwards. I think even you will admit that CO2 is a greenhouse gas and that the higher its concentration, the higher its contribution to warming the Earth. Correct me if I am misstating your position, but I gather you believe that this contribution is relatively minor and any actions we take to reduce the rise in such concentrations will cost more than they are worth in preventing the baleful effects of GW. (Perhaps you think GW will be a net plus for humanity, though. I have heard this opinion expressed before, and I do not dismiss it. But I do point out that even if it is a net plus for the world, it will be a local minus in places where billions of people currently live, and the transition will be less painful if it is slower.) But how do you know any of these things, Ron? What you do know is that the Earth is getting warmer, CO2 concentration rises contribute to it, and we can take some steps to cut back without severe economic impact. Why just ignore what 9 out of 10 climatologists say unless you're simply blinded by prejudice?

Look at the progression of denial from the oil and coal industry and their enablers over the years: first they denied that GW was happening; now they deny that the portion of the (today undeniable) GW due to anthropogenic causes is significant. And all the time they deny that cutting back even slightly on CO2 producing technologies can be done without causing severe hardship. It's just like the tobacco companies and lung cancer, and the evidence is driving a similar resolution despite the desperate, irresponsible rearguard actions of the fossil fuel industry. There were millions of nicotine addicts who eagerly seized on any excuse provided by Tobacco Institute scientists to continue their damaging habit, and there are millions of gasoline addicts today who are doing the same thing. They-you--don't want to face reality because it may be inconvenient. I can understand this reaction but not endorse it in the present case. While there is always a chance that something will turn up that will prevent the rapid GW predicted by the models, it is extremely short-sighted to count on that unlikely chance when we can see that the effects of a warmer Earth will cause many millions of people to lose their homes, livelihoods, and even lives. If the vast majority of scientists are right, we can't stop GW by any known method, but we can easily slow it down by moving to different energy technologies and conserving energy somewhat more than we do today. These actions won't cause anyone hardship except perhaps for a few heirs of Exxon-Mobil stockholders and executives. In fact, they're forward-looking changes that anticipate things we'd have to do anyway a few decades further down the line.

But don't worry, the fossil fuel industry has pretty much won, and the world has taken little action. We're on the glide path to a rapidly warming Earth, which you will be free to proclaim to a dwindling crew of true believers is due to undersea volcanoes or a more active sun or whatever excuse you happen to see on the internet that week. And your home in Houston will eventually be beachfront property.