Global Warming is a fact.
Period.
The only people who really argue against it are (a) politicians whose biggest backers come from oil and gas companies directly affected by any governmental restrictions to curb global warming, (b) a minority of scientists whose funding comes from the oil and gas companies, and (c) people who get their information from Fox News and other media outlets who put more value on politicians who agree with their values than scientists who present evidence that go against their values. I've never heard anyone say "I don't believe in global warming" who has any inkling of all the evidence in support of it. I've read the studies and done the research, and I can say without a doubt that global warming is a reality, and if you disagree with it, you're either ignorant, naive, or downright stupid.
Oil and gas companies fight against the science of global warming because the world's temperature has increased by half a degree due to increasing industrial emissions. When fossil fuels are burned, they emit carbon dioxide which in turn prevents energy from leaving the earth, focusing that energy back down to earth, resulting in an ever-increasing global temperature (hence the term "global warming").
For those who say "Okay, global warming may be real, but it's effects are being blown out of proportion," here's a few snippets of information about what we can expect. A 200-foot sea level rise may not sound like a big deal, but lots of people live near the coast, and humans can't breathe underwater. If water temperatures increase a mere six degrees, we'll be facing a global catastrophe. It'll be a climate akin to the one experienced by the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, and we're not ready for that.
With a One Degree increase, coral reefs will die and deserts will spread throughout the world. There will be vast extinctions of plants and animals. Food sources will plummet, the price of food will therefore skyrocket, and mass starvation will rock our planet. With a Two Degree increase, tens of millions of people will be starving, catastrophic floods will blanket the earth, the sea level will rapidly rise, and the increasing temperature of the oceans will create hurricanes that make our current ones look like mediocre gales. An increase of Three to Five degrees will melt the ice at the poles, and much of the earth will become inhabitable. Once we hit a Six Degree rise, hundreds of millions (if not billions) of people will be starving, and humanity will be facing mass extinction. The survivors will live in what can only be described as a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
This snippet from The News Room captures it best:
(I can't embed it into this post)
Trust me: you should watch it.
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