Is our planet's atmosphere warming steadily and at a faster rate than ever before, and is it caused by human consumption? This question is at the basis of the debate on global warming. This is the biggest debate of this century. There are scientists, politicians and civilians on both sides of the debate. Scientists have determined that Earth has cooled and warmed several times throughout its long history. I don't believe any reasonable person would deny the possibility of Earth reproducing itself at some point in the future. The real point of contention then concerns the cause. Some scientists believe they have found a correlation between an increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and a link to the hypothesis formerly known as global warming, and now called climate change. Some scientists sincerely believe that fifty percent or more of the rapid increase in Earth's surface temperatures is caused by humans. They believe that the increased use of fossil fuels to power our advanced economies has caused carbon dioxide levels to spiral out of control. In order to understand the debate, it is necessary to understand the term greenhouse effect. There are gases in our atmosphere that trap heat and don't allow it to escape into the cold depths of space. Without the greenhouse effect, the Earth's surface temperature would remain below freezing. This happens in the same way that a greenhouse helps plants grow in colder climates. The Earth is constantly bombarded by the sun's rays which penetrate our atmosphere to heat it. Some of this intense heat is absorbed by the Earth's surface and some is reflected back to the middle of the paper... going back eight hundred years. Its most recent focus has been to help plan for future droughts. Works Cited (i) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/globalwarming/instrumental.html (ii) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa /climate/globalwarming.html(ii) Wall Street Journal online http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204301404577171531838421366.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop(iv) British Antarctica Survey http://www.antarctica.ac.uk /bas_research/science_briefings/icecorebriefing.php(v) United Nations Environment Program http://www.unep.org/rms/en/Projects/Project_Coralreefs/index.asp(vi) It's time for a change http: //timeforchange.org/main-cause-of-global-warming-solutions(vii) University of Arizona http://www.environment.arizona.edu/connie-woodhouse