Majority of Americans still believe in Global Warming...

Well, you addressed a response I was making to martin in order to make a statement that science did not matter and that its results can't be measured, both of which are quite wrong.

You can believe whatever hokum you wish. I have not advocated the spending of billions to alleviate suffering around the world in this thread or any other. You are manufacturing an issue and demanding that I prove it wrong.

I have consistently defended the science behind climate change in many threads. I have nowhere promoted Al Gore or anyone else's politics of global warming. I like some ideas to address climate change and I dislike some. I think some are affordable and smart and others are absurd and expensive. I advocate seeking a balance between costs and benefits. I don't feel all that strongly about the politics of it, which will all be revised and negotiated over decades, but I will object when people try to use political ideology to dismiss science about the reality of climate change.

Good for you, D'Artagnan! Make your case and back up this claim that you seem so eager to make with some numbers and perhaps I'll find something to dispute.

Google "Greenhouse gases", we have covered this many times before.

Who made this about improving the third world? We're talking about a global climate issue that will affect us as much or more than the third world. Forget about spending money to help the third world--that ain't the issue. We could have done that already if it were feasible and it has nothing to do with the issue at hand.

And who says it will keep industry from flourishing? That's an industry scare tactic that they can't back up. They said it when we used cap and trade successfully to reduce sulfur emissions, addressing the acid rain problem. Only it didn't bankrupt any industries. Trading sulfur credits allowed companies with old plants to keep working and not shut down even though they were dirtier than required. The sulfur credits that they bought from others allowed those companies to invest in newer, cleaner plants that were also more efficient and more profitable. Net gain for America with more modern plants replacing ancient ones and less air pollution and acid rain to live with . . . in a gradual and affordable way for the companies. They understand trading.

There is no reason that carbon trading won't work the same way. It allows companies with existing plants to use them to the end of their service lives, giving them time to modernize in a fiscally responsible manner and enjoying some tax breaks. Meanwhile it fund new offshore wind farms producing clean, non-polluting energy and creates new jobs to replace those oilfield jobs that will decline as the oil industry does.

I am neither a fan of Al Gore or an advocate for his policies. I urge you to recognize that the science of climate change and the political rhetoric on both sides are two different matters and that a person can accept the validity of the science without buying into the Al Gore vision. He's just another celebrity with an agenda, who really gives a damn? I rank him with Michael Moore, Ann Coulter, Glen Beck, and Limburger.