So, what is exactly your point? The the global temperature isn't going up? Over the past eight years, you'd be right. 2008 was the coolest year since 2000. But its also the ninth warmest year since 1880, when they first started recording the average global temps. You can see the overall trend here...
You can watch a cool little video animation here covering the 5 year average global temperature anomalies here, going from 1880 to 2006.
http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003300/a003375/tempanoms_320x240.m1vIs your point that the sheep aren't getting smaller? Seems like from the article they are, so, unless you're a population biologist, I'm gonna go with the Imperial College of London. Granted, the article was lacking on the raw data, so maybe its just a cover-up perpetuated by a bunch of British hippies that I fell for.
Now, if you want to argue that the change in climate isn't due to carbon dioxide, go for it. The level of CO2 is up to 4% globally, which is up in the last few years while the temperature has cooled, so you may very well have a point. But then you're arguing a topic most PHD's in the field don't agree on, so maybe you can drop the air of omnipotence? Even if CO2 isn't related to global warming, I don't know about you but I know I can't breathe it, so, since more C02= less 02, I'm gonna say I'm not so hell bent against putting some restrictions on the BILLIONS of tons we toss into the air every year. Changing the % of CO2 in the atmosphere is bound to have SOME effect, even if its not the one we think it is. Maybe we do control only a small percentage of what goes on globally, but, we do control that, so, why is a little prudence so obnoxious to you?
And if you'd like to check out NASA's data for yourself, its here...
http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/2008/http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003300/a003375/My point here isn't to show that you're wrong, or that you should think the way that I do. My point is that the brightest minds in the field don't agree on the subject based on the data, so what you have (and what I have) is an
opinion, and not fact. As has been pointed out, there are a huge number of variables affecting global temperature and any change thereof, be it volcano's or solar flares or good old C02 puking out of manufacturing plants. Needless to say, its not a "black and white" kind of field.
Personally, I don't believe ANYONE know the exact effect of CO2 on global warming (or climate change or whatever) to the level of scientific fact. So maybe we can stop debating it here? Or at least agree that neither side has all the answers?
