Thanks for the congrats, Joe. The data clearly shows an abrubt increase in temperature starting about 70 or 80 years ago, and is increasing at an alarming rate- the curve is approaching a very steep slope when plotted. This data is easily obtainable on-line from a number of sources. Undoubtedly there are natural, long-term temperature variations, but greenhouse gas production due to man-made sources is increasing out of all proportion to natural sources and appears to be swamping any natural cycles. We're not talking about gradual increases over geologic time-scales, but rapid increases over a single lifetime. Her conclusion was that even though an increasingly smaller segment of the scientific community feels that it is not proven that global temperature increases are due to man-made causes, current data strongly indicates it, and prudence dictates that we should endeavor to eliminate, as much as possible, any man-made contributions to greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere, while continuing to study the effect. The effects are just too catastrophic to not make the effort. Melting of glacial and polar ice means loss of coastal habitat for large human populations, increased severity and frequency of hurricanes and other storms, large-scale desertification due to alteration of rainfall patterns-food production will be affected for increasingly more vast areas. I was on the fence myself, but after seeing her data I'm convinced that industrialization has had a major effect on global temperatures. The other thing to realize is that a small difference in average temperatures can apparently have a disproportionate effect on environment, in terms of precipitation, cloud cover (bad for astronomy), etc. The greenhouse effect can be self-reinforcing from only a small "nudge"- and what you can end up with is a planet like Venus- 700-degree F temperatures. Looking at the data was the real eye-opener for me. I now think your son's position is closer to the truth than yours. Our contribution has swamped the natural trend within the last century.

From: Joe Bauman <bau@desnews.com>

Congrats, Chuck. What did she conclude about global warming? My son and I have been politely disagreeing about that for a while. I maintain global warming is occurring and that probably we have something to do with it -- but it's been warming since the end of the Pleistocene and our contribution may be minor. He takes the position we're to blame. Thanks, Joe

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