The "global warming" craze has been going on for some time now, with most fanatics claiming that the only reason the temperature of the Earth is rising, is due to humans consumption of energy releasing CO2 into the atmosphere.

Now, I do not disagree completely. Of course our putting all of this pollutant into our atmosphere isn't good, and is quite possibly accelerating global warming, however, I always have to ask:

How did the ice ages end?

They ended by a rise in temperature of the Earth, but it was obviously not caused by humans since, well, we didn't have the technology to cause such a rise in green house gas emissions. In fact, there is evidence of 4 such ice ages in the last 2 million years with humans only being around for the latest one occurring roughly 10,000 years ago. This suggests that the global climate does naturally change over years. The picture to the right shows just that. Periods of hot and cold weather that changes throughout the years. Now, granted, we do not know for SURE the exact temperatures of the Earth at any given time, the changes in vegetation and animal life found in fossils suggest certain temperature changes.

As you can see, we are actually cooler now than we have been in the past, though the temperature is rising now. I don't see how anyone can say that our carbon emissions are the sole reason for the global temperature to be rising. It seems as though it's about time for it to start rising anyway. Again, I have no doubt that we are helping it along, though it would happen anyway. It seems a normal cycle in the world's history.

When it gets as cold as it did during the ice ages, the air clears allowing for more sunlight and heat to penetrate the atmosphere thus causing a rise in temperature. When the temperature rises, the glaciers recede. The glaciers recede means there is more water and a higher sea level. As the temperature rises, more gasses are allowed into the atmosphere and it continues to heat until something happens (whether it is just a TON of gasses in the air or say, it gets so hot that there are volcanic eruptions that pour ash into the atmosphere or a completely unrelated event such as a meteor strike) that causes the sun to get blocked out for a long enough period of time that the Earth again begins to cool, sometimes cold enough to cause another ice age.

Makes sense to me.

It is not to say that we don't need to watch our waste and our fuel use.  We definitely do.  Just because I don't believe that it is the CAUSE of global warming, I definitely think that it is helping it along, plus, it really isn't good for us to have all this pollutant in the air that we breathe, food we eat, and water we drink.  Pollution is a huge problem in our society, we think that we can do whatever we want because we rule the Earth and it's there, so why not use it? 

I know I am guilty of being wasteful, as most people are.  I try to do things that help the environment, but sometimes I don't.  Most of the time I don't.  It's the way our culture has been ingrained in me.  We do what we want to entertain ourselves, keep ourselves busy, and in this busy world, we do whatever is fast and convenient.  I really want to strive to be better at conserving our natural resources and reducing the pollutants we put into our planet, and I think more people need to as well.

Whether you believe in human cause global warming, or think it's naturally occurring, we all need to open our eyes and realize that the world we live in is ours, and we really should start taking better care of the thing that sustains our lives.