Global warming is very real and man-made. The 'experts' who don't agree are all funded by the Oil industry. Especially by companies like Exxon, who unlike other oil companies does not invest in renewable energy. They are funding a huge misinformation campaign. The deniers have various tactics, such as; >>

a. Denying the existence of global warming. Which is no longer sustainable, given the overwhelming consensus in the scientific community. Note that the current US administration holds this position- making them factual Lysenkoists. [Note that this has recently changed- Now even the Bush administration admits it] As a side note, saying that 'in the 70s they feared an ice age, so today we can dismiss global warming' is ridiculous.>>

b. Denying the human causes of global warming (attributing it to natural temperature fluctiations). Which ignores the physics of greenhouse effect.>>

c. Denying the dangers of global warming. Which is the position I'd go for if I was an Oil company propagandist, but nevertheless wrong, and not to mention dangerous.>>

Here are the answers;>>

a. Global warming is a fact. It is not disputed any longer in the scientific community- except for a corporate funded 'research' fringe. For instance, the website 'www.globalwarming.org' [Note: someone gave this link as a reliable source in the previous discussion] belongs to the Cooler Heads Coalition. The director of that coalition is Myron Ebell, who was the Former National Policy Director, 'Frontiers of Freedom' (an organisation which calls itself 'the anti-thesis of Green movement', and received 467,000 USD funding from Exxon since 1998). Ebell also happens to be the Director of Global Warming and International Environmental Policy at the 'Competitive Enterprise Institute' (a conservative think-tank 'at the centre of global warming misinformation campaign', which received 1,465,000 USD funding from Exxon since 1998).>>

b. Some people deny the human causes of global warming. This is again the consensus in the scientific community. Questions from George Monbiot (he's a famous columnist/political activist/environment expert);>>

1. Does the atmosphere contain carbon dioxide? >>

2. Does atmospheric carbon dioxide influence global temperatures? >>

3. Will that influence be enhanced by the addition of more carbon dioxide? >>

4. Have human activities led to a net emission of carbon dioxide?>>

'Yes' is the answer to all these questions- answering 'no' means you're 'parting your ways with basic physics'. >>

c. Is climate change something to be afraid of. It is insane to think otherwise. Even Pentagon claims that it is the greatest danger to security worldwide. The climate is a delicate and chaotic system and so many things can go so wrong that you wouldn't believe. Certain things are already happening- like areas becoming 'uninsurable' due to hurricanes and forest fires, thousands dying from heat waves, crop failures due to draught and rising of the sea levels (goodbye Netherlands!), melting of glaciers on mountain ranges. >>

Larger scale catastrophes may also happen in the future. To list some from memory;>>

- Massive melting of the Antarctic Ice (it is already melting) disturbs the Golf Stream, turning Europe into Siberia or Canada (take a map and look where NW Europe corresponds in the American continent, compare their climates). >>

- It is estimated that the global temperature increase can reach 6 degrees celcius by the end of the 21st century. What does that mean? Well, 4 degrees is the temperature difference between now and the last ice age. And the last time the temperature increased by 6 degrees, some chemical reactions were triggered, details of which I forgot (things like release of the carbon trapped in tar pits, or the methane in seabed), accelerating the greenhouse effect to no end and subsequently causing a total collapse of the climate system. As a result 90% of all species were killed. That's of course the worse case scenario. >>

So, what can we do about it? We don't need to dismantle the whole industrial economy, but we need to curb certain emmissions. Kyoto treaty is just a tentative first step, very insufficient, but some greedy countries won't even accept that. Surely, the capitalist idiots who rule most countries will never react to the danger unless their asses are on fire. Then the people will make the companies comply, don't you worry. I hope it won't be too late.>>

Here are my sources; >>

http://www.exxonsecrets.org/ - >>

http://www.monbiot.com/archives/category/climate-change/ - >>

especially these articles;>>

http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2004/04/27/the-fossil-fools/ - >>

http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2003/07/01/shadow-of-extinction/ - >>

Do you mean hurricanes? In which case yes. I live in the center of the country, what happens to coastalers isn't my problem.

The only way that global warming has affected the severity of the storms in my part of the world...........is all the bad ones have been hitting Florida and the east coast. 

For the past 10 years or so, most of the really big ones have missed the Texas and Louisiana coasts.