Following seed... Interesting to note: Freeman Dyson doesn't buy the models used to predict GW.

I'm pretty much a fence-sitter on this stuff. I can see that global temp patterns are indicating warming. But since we only have about 125+ years of decent weather data, we rely on modeling to understand longer periods. Our understanding is sensitive to the output of models that might not be all that reliable.

Is it getting warmer? Sure. Is it because of people? Maybe. But the answer isn't standing on the neck of business and throttling progress down to a halt. Technological progress improves lives in the near term, and can help deal with pollution in the long term. Not to say that technology will save us on its own, but if we can get China and India to move far more quickly past gas guzzlers than the US did, it's good for them and better for the environment.

Jumping up and down and yelling about how "bad" "we" all are is a good way to get attention, but provides no good path towards improvement.

The US has drastically cut the amount of energy that goes into a dollar of GDP. We're highly efficient in terms of the energy we use and the amount of stuff that gets produced. This means that restricting carbon output will have a far more direct impact on economic growth for the US than any other country. While the US is the biggest polluter, it's the price paid for the most dynamic, largest economy in the world. To get pollution out and NOT start strangling global growth, the EU, China and India are the best places to start fighting pollution. They use FAR more energy per dollar, meaning that there is less of an impact on the world if they were to adopt much more strict pollution standards.

Of course, when Al Gore-Co makes PowerPoint presentations with killer soundtracks, its done for the consumption of people in the highly developed world who look around and go "Geeze, he's SOOOO right. Let's stop all the automakers!!!" You don't see him going to rural India or the former Soviet Union countries and saying "Turn in your Cold-War era trucks, since they're worse on pollution than most Hummers." That horrible truck belching black smoke is how those people get their food to market, pick up bare essentials, etc. But what if we got THOSE people cheap Fords? They could afford more, spend less on upkeep, and stop turning places like Mumbai into black clouds of smog.

Whatever your opinion, all I ask is that you think about the issue of DISTRIBUTION. While you may lament the US not signing on to Kyoto, remember that a metric ton of pollution NOT the same everywhere in the world.