What are the arguments on both sides of the global warming controversy?

Those that believe man is causing global warming:

• Flooding
• Drought in some countries
• Fires
• Many species of wildlife will be lost forever
• Glaciers are melting as we speak, Inuit people drowning from too thin ice and the Polar Bear will become extinct because it relies on the ice not to mention Penguins (they are few and far between) seals, etc.
• Fishing as we know it. Sports fishing will become a dream only! Fish farming at the present time is unsafe because of the parasites they carry and can pass onto wild Salmon, etc. There is a resolution to this problem, but it's expensive (above ground tanks for these farm fish.)
• Disease from smog, car emissions, factories pouring out waste, etc.
• Building too quickly without thought or good planning and mowing down trees (trees clean the air and keep the grounds foundation solid.) This is why you often see mud slides or loss of homes built on high ground.
• The world's food will become depleted.
• The food supply would become depleted because too much heat kills crops. Heat evaporates water, which crops need to grow. Also, too much water from flooding would also kill crops. Rain will be polluted and also work to kill crops. The above answer did not state that the extinction and disease and all the other stuff wouldn't occur!
  
• Global warming could cause the earth to become a dead planet!
  
• According to IPCC and UNEP: (Scientists have been documenting changes in 100 physical and 450 biological processes).
• Russian Arctic, higher temps are melting the permafrost causing 5 story apartment buildings to slump. Rain is more intense; floods and storms are more severe and rivers freeze later in the season that usual.
• Scientists feel temperatures will rise by another 1.4 to 5.8C in the 21st century. Thus, it will change the earth systems including ocean circulation and hydrological carbon and nutrient cycles. In other words it will disrupt the natural ecosystems that provide us with water, food, etc., and cause environmental stresses such as declining water quality, ozone depletion, urban air pollution (take a good look at L.A. and Toronto) and deforestation. Already the U.S. is cutting deals with Canada for water. Yes, the U.S. is running out of water sources. Without water there are no crops! Without forests there are no sources to help keep our air clean and it also depletes some species of animals along with lakes, rivers and oceans.
• The Arctic and the Antarctic are warming far more quickly than scientists expected. Although the melting of ice will open up more expanses of ocean for ships there is a price to pay. When the ice flows melt walruses, polar bears, seals and other marine mammals that rely on this ice floe for resting and feeding will be threatened and most likely become close to extinction. The Indigenous people are already being affected by the lack of ice for hunting, fishing and gathering plants and birds, fish.
• In large parts of Eastern Europe, Russia, Central Canada and California, peak stream flows have advanced from spring to winter creating more rain rather than snow, thus reaching rivers more rapidly than before and ... floods.
  
• Africa; large basins of Niger, Lake Chad and Senegal have a decrease in water by 40 - 60%. Increased summer drying and a high risk of drought including Central Asia and Sahel.
• 25% of mammals and 12% of birds are closing in rapidly to extinction. 89% of these are at high risk because the food chain will change.
• CO2 levels will affect plants in many ways and diminish the protein content of wheat and rice. Because of the negative impact on plant growth the spread of pests and diseases are more at risk.
• Mid-continental areas IE: U.S. grain belt and areas of Asia and Australia will dry. Warmer temps and greater evapo-transpiration can reduce agricultural yields by a third plus. In the tropic many crops are at the max temp tolerance and farmers are unable to irrigate because of lack of water.
• Health effects on humans will be greater because of heat waves, cold snaps, floods and droughts, pollution and allergens (it's already happening!) Increased frequency and intensity of storms, floods, cyclones will also harm be a danger to humans (IE: New Orleans.) Air quality will be changed (there are more people suffering from air quality diseases every year.)
• The cost of global weather-related disasters has increased from 1950 ($3.9 billion in US) to 1990s ($40 billion US) and rising! Today some insurance companies in high risk areas refuse to cover floods, fire, etc., insurance and have actually removed it from their policies.
• Because ice is extremely heavy (1 ton per cubic meter); glaciers are vast sheets of ice. When the two are intact, glaciers exert enormous pressure on the portion of the earth's surface. Because the glaciers are melting at a higher percent to date than scientists expected they have no alternative but to believe it's due to Global Warming! The pressure is reduced and will be eventually released. That means that pressure on the earth's surface will cause earthquakes, tsunamis (caused by undersea earthquakes) and volcanic eruptions!

 

Those that believe varying degrees outside the current Man Induced view:

This section should really be divided into three categories in all fairness. Many believe global warming MAY be happening, but it is not proven. Others do not feel it is actually fair and unbiased science.


Those that actually deny the issue claim:

• CO2 has never lead temps, it always follows temperature
  
• That the current troposphere temps are below 1981 levels currently.
• That just because two things coincide does not mean they are connected. If it did, the increase of wind turbines could be causing warming. The more wind systems we see, the warmer it gets the past thirty years! Are they causing global warming?
  
• That science shows us that levels of CO2 above 280ppm reach a saturation point and increased CO2 does not add more heat.
• That glaciers supposedly melting like the Himalayas are not melting.
• The Antarctic is not warming or losing ice overall
• the climate changes with or without us
• that man may be contributing, but we do not know yet.
• Sea level is not increasing, in fact it is decreasing
• the warming we see started thousands of years before we started banging rocks together
• that the current warming of 11 degrees, only 0.6 is since 1850
• 1850 was the low temps of the mini ice age, not a normal temp period.
• That the IPCC has an agenda of political nature and is not unbiased
• That the average science expert of 1850 felt CO2 was at 400 ppm then (we are slightly lower today)
• The vast bulk of research money goes into looking for reasons to blame man
• That the Hockey stick graph is not reproducible
  
• The heat island effect is ignored by the IPCC and extreme environmentalists
• That the bulk of warming in data used by the IPCC dovetails with the closing of 3000 weather stations in Russia.
• That if we look at the temps of 1939 until now, we see cooling..
• NASA raw data shows ocean cooling, not warming. Manipulating the data is required to fake warming
  
• The issue is being used to keep people from dealing with real environmental issues
• The issue is being used to force people to reduce their lifestyle
  

Then we have a group that believes that global warming MAY be happening, but it is not from man, but predominantly natural in nature.

• They point to the lower temps today then 2010 or 1998
• The lack of sea level rise (actually it has slowed for decades and now is going down)
  
• the lack of ice loss in Antarctic
  
• The glacial loss is a normal cycle
• That solar variation plays a key
• That the IPCC ignores increases in negative feedback of water vapor
• That Vostok shows this is a normal cycle
• the lack of an increase in hurricanes is proof that the models are wrong
• They point to the fact that no IPCC model or projects ever come true
• That tens of thousands of measurements of CO2 taken since 1850 show averages were around today's 390 ppm or higher.
  

Then we have the group that believes man is contributing but they do not see an issue with it. They contend:

• Crops need HEAT to grow. More heat means more crops. Crops also need water. If sea levels rise due to ice melting, this will increase the surface area of the oceans. Combined with higher temperatures, this results in more evaporation. More evaporation means more water vapor in the atmosphere. More water vapor means more RAIN!
• Carbon dioxide is BENEFICIAL to crops!
• "Too much heat", in and of itself, does not kill crops, UNLESS it is accompanied by too little rainfall. But under any reasonable global warming scenario, precipitation will INCREASE. The rain will not be polluted, and if it is, it won't be because of global warming. Too much water will not kill crops. It might make it harder to harvest them, but it won't kill them. But, the point is, whatever LOCALIZED negative impacts on agriculture that might manifest will be more than outweighed by the positive impacts, like a greatly expanded area that is warm enough to grow crops, and the increases in yield due to an abundance of carbon dioxide. IF global warming is really happening and IF it continues, it will likely be the best thing to happen to worldwide food production since the invention of man-made fertilizers. Worldwide food production will reach new record levels year after year after year.
• IF global warming is real, and IF it continues, then, yes, a few coastal areas may be flooded . Talking about the kind of temporary flooding that comes with heavy rainfall, then that too will occur, on a LOCALIZED basis. Neither is a big deal, especially compared to the huge economic losses that will occur if society actually makes a serious effort to stop global warming.
• It is quite possible that SOME areas will, in fact, receive less rainfall than they currently receive. But, on the other hand, other areas will receive MORE rainfall. In fact, this year, the Great Plains received a great deal more rain than normal. On average, however, it is clear that, worldwide, participation will increase. Higher temperatures -> more evaporation -> more rainfall!
• Yes, there will be fires due to drought, but there will be more fires PREVENTED by a RELIEF of drought in those areas where rainfall will increase.
• Global warming most certainly will NOT "cause the earth to become a dead planet". Even if the worst scenarios of the alarmists come true, global temperatures and CO₂ levels will still be well below what they were during the age of dinosaurs. Dinosaurs and plants THRIVED in that environment. Even if humans became extinct (which we won't), there will still be plenty of LIFE left on the planet.