William V

Here's a question for deniers. Suppose Ronald Reagan had decided that global warming was a serious problem and had started a crusade to fight it. How would you feel about it then?

Just about every global warming denier has his or her own story about what is "wrong" with the current consensus among climate scientists (I said climate scientists - they are the ones qualified to discuss it) that anthropogenic global warming is happening and should be stopped. Each denier has his or her own "theory" on what is happening. It's volcanoes, it's the sun, it's cosmic rays, it's magnetic fields, it's "cycles" (no one ever bothers to define those cycles), it's liberals, it's Al Gore, it doesn't say so in the bible, it's cooling instead of warming, etc. Articles by different deniers often contradict each other. And almost every denier thinks his theory is the only sensible one, rarely do two deniers agree on a theory, and many are even embarrassed by the stupidity of other deniers.

So what, exactly is the "consensus" theory among deniers? Other than denial, of course. Why is earth's climate warming? And what are the predictions of that theory?

If global warming is a "liberal hoax," as some people believe, why do some conservatives believe in it? I mean, Newt Gingrich is very conservative. Yet he has"acknowledged that global warming is real, and offered what amounted to an unexpected apology for his party's inaction on curtailing greenhouse gas emissions."

"I'm not going to stand up here and defend our failure to lead," said Gingrich, who is considering a run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and plans to release a book in the fall burnishing his environmental credentials. "There has to be a green conservatism."

(source: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/04... - and there are plenty of other references to Gingrich's stand on the internet)

What about Arnold Schwarznegger? Didn't he call liberals in California's legislature "girly men?" He's probably done more than any other politician to tackle global warming. He fights with the federal government to be allowed to do even more! What about him?

Do people who claim global warming is a "liberal hoax" really know what they're talking about?