Most People Still Left Out in the Cold About Global Warming

Most would tell you that the weather we've experienced the past few seasons has been record setting. We've had extremely hot summers, and rather warm winters. You'd be hard pressed to find someone that doesn't agree that the weather hasn't been going par for the course. Once you begin discussing it, the words "global warming" usually aren't far behind.

Most scientist agree that the weird weather we've been experiencing is due to global warming, but the interesting part is that a fair amount of people don't believe that the drastic increase of temperature is our fault. According to a study by the Pew Research Center, only 41 percent of people asked believed that global warming is something caused by human activity. This is in stark contrast to the science community's findings. In a panel consisting of 113 nations, scientist have come to the conclusion that global warming is "very likely" a human caused phenomena.

The panel also gave a grim outlook on the progression of global warming and our world in the future. In a 21 page report, the panel came to the conclusion that "man-made emissions of greenhouse gases are to blame for fewer cold days, hotter nights, heat waves, floods and heavy rains, droughts and stronger storms." The report also pins the blame on humans for the increase of the overall global temperature, melting the ice caps, and a raising sea level. Kevin Trenberth, the director of climate analysis at the U.S National Center for Atmospheric Research, said that the stronger storms will cause billions of dollars in damage and an estimated 1 million deaths.

Global warming isn't going stopping anytime soon, either. According to the report, the planet's temperature will continually rise regardless of efforts to halt gas emissions. ``This is just not something you can stop. We're just going to have to live with it,'' Trenberth said. `We're creating a different planet. If you were to come back in 100 years' time, we'll have a different climate.''