That same data will show that it is human beings who are causing the problem. Pollution from cars, industry and the burning of fossil fuel all have a dramatic impact on the environment which goes far beyond the expected fluctuations in the world’s temperature.
In fact, looking at the past 200 years proves nothing, for this is the period after the Industrial Revolution, when technological development began to influence the environment on a large scale. If we could look at the last hundred thousand years or so we would see absolute evidence that we are responsible for global warming.

The sea level has been rising at an ever increasing pace due to industrialisation and consequent environmental pollution. Prior to the beginning of the 19th century the sea level had remained constant for close to 3000 years, but since then it has been accelerating, with rises of 1-2mm a year during the twentieth century increasing to over 3mm in recent years. While these numbers might seem small, the effects can be devastating; we have seen for ourselves the destruction caused by flooding in areas such as Bangladesh. With the world’s population increasing, land becomes an ever more precious commodity: we cannot afford to lose much of it to a rising sea level.

Scientists predict that due to global warming there will be worse storms than we have had before. This seems borne out by the difficult winter conditions in the U.S.: compared to previous years the amount of snow fall was off the charts. Climate change and global warming does not mean that the planet will increase in temperature uniformly. It means that we are likely to see increasingly extreme weather patterns and changes in what has been the norm for decades. If you look at phenology reports you will see that bird migration patterns are altering and that seasons are changing when they start and end. The increase in adverse weather, not just in the U.S. but globally, will continue. In the UK the South East will continue to get dryer and the North West with continue to get wetter: the tendency to flooding which has already been seen in the North West will get worse. This will have adverse effects on the local flora and fauna as well as on the human population.