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| | [[Image:Rogerrevelle.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[Roger Revelle]]]] | | [[Image:Rogerrevelle.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[Roger Revelle]]]] |
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| − | '''Global warming''' is the term ascribed to an increase in global average surface temperature. | + | '''Global warming''' is the term ascribed to an increase in global average surface temperature. The global average surface temperature warmed about 0.8 K during the last century <ref>[http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/2005/ GISS Surface Temperature Analysis]</ref>, and to most scientists the warming is caused by increases in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.<ref>[http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/reprint/306/5702/1686.pdf The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change]</ref> The possibility of adverse consequences has become a major concern for environmentalists. Some scientists such as [[Richard Lindzen]], [[Fred Singer]], etc., say that the patterns of global warming are naturally caused. |
| − | Independent scientists such as [[Richard Lindzen]], [[Fred Singer]], etc., say that the patterns of global warming are naturally caused.
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| | Politicians who support the [[Kyoto Protocol]] have made the claim that there is a cause and effect relationship between increases in atmospheric concentrations of [[greenhouse gases]] and air temperature. | | Politicians who support the [[Kyoto Protocol]] have made the claim that there is a cause and effect relationship between increases in atmospheric concentrations of [[greenhouse gases]] and air temperature. |
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| | ==Politics of global warming== | | ==Politics of global warming== |
| − | The global average surface temperature warmed about 0.5 C over the second half of the 20th Century,{{Fact-science}} and to some the warming appears to be related to increases in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The possibility of adverse consequences has become a major concern for environmentalists.
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| | Assessments of climate science by the United Nations (see [[IPCC]] - ''Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change'') | | Assessments of climate science by the United Nations (see [[IPCC]] - ''Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change'') |
| | have claimed that scientists are 90% sure that over 50% of the observed global warming in recent decades is human-caused, and that continued global warming should be expected over at lease the next century. | | have claimed that scientists are 90% sure that over 50% of the observed global warming in recent decades is human-caused, and that continued global warming should be expected over at lease the next century. |