Climate Change

Recent scientific studies suggest that the earth is embarking upon a warming trend, which could cause the seas to rise by 16 to 20 feet, mirroring a similar warming trend 120,000 years ago.

While the warming trend 120,000 years ago is believed to be caused by the Earth tilting within its orbit, the current warming trend is believed to be caused by increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, ostensibly from industrial emissions.

I don't believe there is much debate about whether we may be experiencing a warming trend, but I believe the debate occurs in what we must do to prevent this, or if it can be prevented at all. Reducing emmissions will likely cause hundreds of millions of people around the world to continue to live in abject poverty, which may have been preventable through industrialization. However, hundreds of millions more may lose their homes as the sea rises.

Further, what if we are in a warming trend, but carbon dioxide (CO2) emmissions don't play a significant part? What if warming is ocurring for largely the same reason it ocurred 120,000 years ago? Then all of our emmission reduction plans are for naught and the industrialized world would have subjected the developing world to living in poverty without any difference in results.

These are great questions (in my humble opinion (IMHO)), that aren't being discussed and debated because of a fanatical devotion on both sides.