I'm not in a position to argue about specific data, but the issue need not be debated in such detail. What I've read seems to say that warming caused by greenhouse gas emmision is a very different animal than that caused by other sources (i.e., variations in solar output), due to the possibility of a rapid "runaway" effect being tripped. No-one knows even remotely where that threshold actually is- thus the mindset of erring on the side of conservation. Kurt was quite eloquent and dead-on in his essay. The debate is an ethical one. The fact that some maintain that most of the global warming trend isn't man-caused, does not argue against reductions in man-made emissions and misses the point. A runaway greenhouse effect means death for all of us, regardless of our opinions- or the real cause. Conservation and 'green' lifestyles, even down to the smallest details, collectively, make complete sense, both logically (science), and ethically (your moral baseline as it relates to stewardship of this planet). Humans should not produce pollutants that can contribute to global warming, period. You don't screw with what you don't understand, you don't litter, you don't risk ruining the environment. It's not OK to keep playing with the stove just because you haven't been burned yet. It's a human trait to tell ouselves what we want to believe, so we can maintain a certain comfort level or belief system. We want to be able to sleep at night. Nobody is an idiot or villain for thinking like that, just human and trying to make sense of things like everyone else. We all have ethical questions in our minds and moral decisions to make. Does anyone else think that "Alarmist" has negative connotations? This troubles me and is obvious non-scientific political spin. Many of those branded thus are genuinely trying to keep this planet a nice place to live- even for those who don't think human activity is damaging the environment in possibly catastrophic ways. Not all are at risk of losing funding. Perhaps "Cautionist" might be a better term? ____________________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Music Unlimited Access over 1 million songs. http://music.yahoo.com/unlimited