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When we want to know the real truth about global warming, we must first separate what we know versus what is conjecture. For instance, is there any global warming to begin with? There is a problem with even this question. 'Warming' refers to temperatures, which are a feature of weather, not climate. Climate is the average of weather over a period of time.

While global warming is then a reference to weather rather than climate, there is some evidence that worldwide temperatures have raised an average of from three to seven tenths of a degree over the past century. This part is proven, though there is also evidence released by NOAA (National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration) that there has been a decrease in global temperatures over the last decade.

Here is where it becomes trickier when trying to separate the truth with the suppositions. There are those who say that melting ice packs, notably the Greenland Ice sheet and flows in the arctic, as being proof of much larger temperature fluctuations than those actually measured. This might seem to indicate a contradiction, but it really does nothing of the kind. All it does is shows a shift in climate, as has been going on continually on this planet for the past 4.5 billion years.

Climate change and global warming are two entirely different things. A climate shift merely means that some places get a little warmer or a little wetter while other places get a little colder or a little drier. Again, this is nothing new; even in the short time man has occupied Earth. When considering the amount of time the planet has been around, this is also a major reason that the earth hasn't even had polar ice caps for most of its history.

It is because of this that we can say that using melting ice sheets, as proof of global warming is an assumption, rather than a fact. They are melting and glaciers are retreating, however they have been gradually melting and retreating since the last ice age, about 11,000 years ago. If this weren't true, half of Europe and half of North America would still be blanketed under a mile of ice, as is still the case in Antarctica.

Observing Antarctica can also result in making assumptions rather than considering facts. The ice sheets are calving at a high rate, but where they are calving isn't where the ice is over land; rather it is where the ice is over water. Quite a number of things could account for this, so it wouldn't be factual to assume it is because of global warming.

A recurrent theme

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