How Real is the Global Warming Threat?
As recent articles have indicated,8 it may take scientists more than a decade to determine whether, and how, human activity may be causing changes in the climate. Global warming and global cooling are general historical trends. The global warming theorists believe that man-made gases will warm the Earth’s atmosphere to dangerous levels, thereby endangering life on the planet. Although many Americans are familiar with the topic of global warming, few understand its scientific elements, and their understanding is complicated by a general confusion between global warming and what is known as the “greenhouse effect.” The term greenhouse effect refers to the Earth’s release of certain gases, called greenhouse gases, which enable the atmosphere to retain some of the heat received from the Sun instead of reflecting all of it back into space. These gases, which include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen oxide, and water vapor, have the same effect as the glass exterior of a greenhouse: They are
