Nobody is talking about persecuting scientists. In fact, the scientists who are on the global warming bandwagon are far from persecuted--they are the ones doing the best in the grant-gathering "bizz." That's one reason given by some opponents for doubting this hypothesis--there's money to be made by hyping the coming catastrophy. Of course, the petroleum companies are funding the other side, so that complicates the issue.
I dont think questioning the causes of global warming is quite the same as believing we didn't go to the moon. We're talking about less than 1 deg C temp increase over the course of the centurry. We're talking about a fossil record that shows that 450 million years ago, when the world was the coldest it has been in 500 million years, CO2 levels were actually at their highest (many times higher than they are today). We're talking about recognizing that 97% of the greenhouse gas in the atmosphere is water vapor, CO2 is less than 3%. So, even if present CO2 is 40-50% higher than it was earlier in the century, that's still about a 1% change in total greenhouse gasses. And then there's the interrelationships to be appreciated--will higher CO2 lead to increased plant growth=more CO2 uptake? The models are NOT clear on this. The models ARE clear on the effect of solar radiation, and that solar radiation has increased as the temps have increased (again, by less than 1 deg C)
I'm not saying that warming isn't occuring, and I'm not saying it's impossible that we'll have to do something about once it is understood. But the "10 year tipping point" and "irreversable change" talk sounds calculated to influence rather than to inform. I don't think the doubters are Capricorn 1 believing, flat earth type foil hat wearers. (At least not ALL of them
).
