The '''global warming controversy''' centers on the controversial theory that the earth's atmosphere is heating up at a dangerous rate, because of . Most scientists agree that human activities such as [[greenhouse gas]] emissions from burning [[fossil fuels]] contribute to this (see [[Anthropogenic global warming]]). Supporters usually feel that immediate (not to say drastic) action must be taken to reduce these omissions emissions (see [[Kyoto Protocol]]).
The theory enjoys wide scientific and political support, but many some climatologists and meteorologists disagree with it. The United Nations' climate panel ([[UNIPCC]]) has assessed the theory and found that there is a "scientific consensus" in favor of it. Scientists [[Richard Lindzen]] and John Christy, among others, deny that such a consensus exists.
The name is inaccurate, and should be '''Global Climate Change''', as the increasing amount of heat stored in the atmosphere has had disruptive effects leading to colder weather in some areas.
Point #4 is what the political and international debate are about. Both climate change itself, and the very large-scale actions that are proposed to combat it, would have enormous economic effects with identifiable winners and losers, resulting in an intense debate. For example, since the industrialized nations emit most of the CO<sub>2</sub>, if it were agreed that these emissions needed to be reduced sharply, the burden would fall much more heavily on these nations than on undeveloped nations. {{fact}}
== Evidence ==
The [[UNIPCC]] in February projected sea level gains of 7-23 inches this century from temperature rises of 3.2-7.8 Farenheit. John Church, of Australia's CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research said in March 2007 that observations were close to the upper limit projected.
The Antarctic Peninsula is warming faster than anywhere else on Earth, and in east Antarctica, which is shielded to some extent from global warming by extreme cold and high altitudes, the height of the Tottenham Glacier near Australia's Casey Base has fallen nearly 40 feet in the last 15-16 years. Church pointed out that the last time temperatures were at levels projected for the end of the 21st century, more than 100,000 years ago, sea levels were twelve to eighteen feet higher than they are now.
Steve Rintoul, senior principal research scientist of CSIRO Marine Research said that every yard of sea level rise causes coastlines to recede about 300 feet, and erosion worsens with every storm. Around the world, approximately 100 million people live within a yard of the present-day sea level.<ref>http://sealevel.jpl.nasa.gov/science/invest-church.html</ref>
== Al Gore and politics ==