Brightstar says: "the biosphere compensates during eras of increased levels of CO2 in the atmosphere"

This is actually true. Not only that, the good folks at the IPCC know this. So, what's going on? What's the truth of the matter? Is the IPCC hiding this from world so that we are all duped into believing in global warming? Is Brightstar secretly a brilliant theorist who's exposed the real truth about global warming right here in the reader's letters section of Salon.com?

Well, no. In fact, the biosphere has absorbed about 1/2 of the CO2 that man has added to the Earth's atmosphere. However, we are adding CO2 a rate that exceeds the ability of the biosphere to adapt. Its actually the excess CO2 that we are watching build up in our atmosphere. The ability of biology to adapt to changing environmental conditions has limits. That's why species go extinct and that's why we are causing global climate change.

This is actually a perfect example of how a misunderstood half-truth combined with some logic and uninformed opinion ends up being used to create a "controversy" by the likes of Brightstar, Paglia, and the other global warming skeptics.

Poetry is nice. I haven't read any Roethke, but now I might just do that.

However, if all the troubles in Saginaw can move you to do is write a sad, anemic little piece about how suffering brings great beauty, then shame on you.

Where is the outrage? The abandonment of the worker by American industry (a theme all across the rustbelt) and events like the great home mortgage swindle of 2007 should make us angry. They should make us pick up arms and revolt. Hillary vs. McCain? Give me a break. How about Marx?

Instead we spend our time watching TV and daydreaming in airports. We are all getting the future we deserve.

Well golly, if a former horse farmer says so, then global warming must be bunk. I'd certainly trust your gut instinct before I'd trust those slippery scientist type folks.

"Does a spike in carbon precede higher temperatures or is it a by product of heat?"

Damn, I never thought of that. The Earth actually warmed up on its own and that caused atmospheric CO2 to rise. The burning of billions of tons of fossil fuels had nothing to do with it! I stand corrected! You and Brightstar have got this climate change thing all figured out.

I don't think farmers are stupid. I just think you are stupid. I just think that stating because you grew up on a farm is some sort of reason why your gut instinct about global warming is correct is even smellier than that manure you referred to. How about trying to actually look at the facts and understand an issue before passing judgment?

I've never seen An Inconvenient Truth. My own views regarding global warming have nothing to do with Al Gore or that movie. Furthermore, one mistake on one graph (assuming you are even correct) does not prove that global warming isn't happening or that there is some sort of conspiracy by Al Gore (or whomever) to fool the entire planet. The scientific community didn't make up its mind about global warming based on anything Al Gore has ever said or done.

To all of you who are convinced global warming isn't happening or isn't being caused by man, please go to the website of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and read their latest (2007) report. Its written at a level that any reasonably educated person can understand and spells out in much detail why they believe the Earth is warming and we are the cause. Here is the website: http://www.ipcc.ch

I'm happy you are involved in your children's lives and put some thought into what sort of things they watch on TV, etc. However, I just don't want to read about it.