Global warming

Is global warming happening?
Is global warming caused by human activity?
Will global warming affect us?
Some easily refutable red herrings and 'untruths'.

Global warming is happening.

This is what the majority of scientists say.

Global warming is not happening.

This is what the oil industry says.

We don't have conclusive evidence, need to do more research.

This is what some scientists say. Scientific "it is / it isn't" is measured in statistical sigma, those with this viewpoint demand a higher statistical sigma before they consider data to be "proof". This is a very prudent viewpoint, in fact it is so prudent that by the same standard cigarettes have not been conclusively proven to cause cancer. Seriously.

Global warming is accelerated by human activity (specifically the burning of hydrocarbons).

This is what many scientists say.

Global warming is caused by human activity (specifically the burning of hydrocarbons).

This is what the rest of the scientists say.

We don't have conclusive evidence, need to do more research.

This is what the oil industry says.

Global warming will disrupt our ability to live in the areas currently inhabited by humans and will disrupt our ability to grow crops and raise cattle.

This is what the majority of scientists say.

Global warming will devastate the human race, but other forms of life will go on.

This is what some alarmists say.

Global warming will cause a runaway greenhouse effect and turn Earth into an inhospitable planet like Venus.

This is what some alarmist scientists say.

Global warming will not affect us.

Nobody says this.

We have enough oil to last us decades, we don't need alternative sources of energy.

The issue is not how much oil we have, the issue is how much carbon is being dumped into the atmosphere by burning oil.

It is too expensive to move to alternative forms of energy.

It is expensive. However, even those who argue that we have decades of oil left still acknowledge that at some point the hydrocarbons will run out. It is easier and less expensive to develop alternative energy sources now while we have cheap oil, than to try to do it when we don't have cheap oil. When there is no more oil, there will be no way to run gasoline-powered equipment to build other sources of energy. Oil should be the stepping stone to sustainable forms of energy.

The move to alternative energies should be gradual, not hurried.

Starting now is gradual. Waiting until later will make it hurried.

China isn't doing it, so why should we?

My neighbor throws his empty cigarette packs on the sidewalk, why shouldn't I?

If we stop burning carbon then China will have a self-imposed economic advantage on us.

They say the same thing about you. Also, China has self-imposed economic advantages on the US due to labor laws and intellectual property laws. Is protecting Disney's IP more of a national and global concern than ensuring human habitability on Earth?

Other forms of energy are dangerous.

Oil is the most dangerous and harmful form of energy currently in use. Oil and coal related pollution and accidents have killed, diseased, and maimed many orders of magnitude more humans than any other form of energy. Burning coal releases more radiation into the atmosphere than nuclear energy. Hydroelectric has rendered more land uninhabitable than nuclear accidents. The people killed due to the operation of nuclear power plants is measured in the tens. For hydroelectric it is in the thousands. For hydrocarbons it is in the millions. The problem with nuclear is that there is no operational damage to the ecology or to humans, rather only in times of accidents do people or ecology get hurt. Thus, nuclear-related issues are high profile. Contrast that with hydrocarbons where venting radioactive waste to the atmosphere is part of normal operation and mining incidents happen monthly around the globe, so there is no sensational news to report.