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Wow, there are some pretty uninformed responses here.
Guys, the issue is not with 'poison'. The problem with CO2 is that it stores energy. With CO2 in the atmosphere, heat radiated by the planet reflected by the sun can not escape into space. Yes, the planet can naturally remove CO2 (plants, trees, and plankton are the main ways of transforming CO2 into O2). But not fast enough for our current emissions. The problem is the world power plants, which burn coal and gas and create unnatural levels of CO2. Yes, volcanoes create greenhouse gases, but we can't control them. While cars and cattle (though they certainly don't create 20% of the gases) are an issue, the main problem is power plants.
The scientific community has known of this problem since the 1960's. Problem is, political issues have always kept the public uninformed, especially in the US (the world biggest consumer of fossil fuels and emitter of greenhouse gases). The fear that being 'green' with somehow destroy the economy. The whole "scientific communitty is plotting against us" conspiracy actually started with an off hand comment by some senetor during election time in the 1980's. If anything, the conspiracy is that the government has been down playing the threat, continues to keep the public uninformed, and refuses to understand the problem. Its typical of human nature, wait until its nearly too late to act on it.
What makes me sick is that people (even in this thread) chose to side with the conspiracy theorists/politicians/talk show hosts on this issue and ignore what the scientific community has to say. You would be hard pressed to find one credible scientist nowadays that doesn't believe this is probably the greatest threat we have ever faced.
If something isn't done, the planet as we know it will die. We already see it with the extreme weather, the melting of the polar ice cap and the world glaciers, and rising temperatures of the oceans. Its not really an issue of if its happening, its an issue of "can we change it, or have we gone too far?"
Please, if you are someone that sides with the politicians, get a documentary on the subject (specifically PBS's Frontline series), read a website or magazine and get informed. It is scarey, and I guarantee we don't want to live on the planet we are creating.
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