More seriously, it seems clear that a well-informed layman might have any of the following opinions:
global warming is both happening and is greatly exacerbated by human production of carbon dioxide,
global warming is (or was until very recently) happening but is not greatly affected (so far) by human production of carbon dioxide, or
global warming is happening (or was until very recently) but it's unclear to what degree humans have exacerbated it.
Some opinions which do not appear to be well-informed are:
global warming is happening and humans caused it all,
global warming hasn't happened in historical times,
global warming has already produced temperatures which are higher than any in history, or
global warming is unstoppable unless we act this month, year, or decade.
Neither of those are exhaustive lists, of course. Part of the problem here is that this discussion has become so politicized that facts that don't fit the positive assertions of the various factions are simply ignored or assumed to be unproven (or even fabricated). Additionally, everyone pushing for a viewpoint seems to have something to gain from their preferred viewpoint, from skeptical geologists funded by oil companies to academics who want grants to study climate from the government under the approved legislation-supporting view. Faced with this, what are we to make of these choices?
More seriously, it seems clear that a well-informed layman might have any of the following opinions:
global warming is both happening and is greatly exacerbated by human production of carbon dioxide,
global warming is (or was until very recently) happening but is not greatly affected (so far) by human production of carbon dioxide, or
global warming is happening (or was until very recently) but it's unclear to what degree humans have exacerbated it.
Some opinions which do not appear to be well-informed are:
global warming is happening and humans caused it all,
global warming hasn't happened in historical times,
global warming has already produced temperatures which are higher than any in history, or
global warming is unstoppable unless we act this month, year, or decade.
Neither of those are exhaustive lists, of course. Part of the problem here is that this discussion has become so politicized that facts that don't fit the positive assertions of the various factions are simply ignored or assumed to be unproven (or even fabricated). Additionally, everyone pushing for a viewpoint seems to have something to gain from their preferred viewpoint, from skeptical geologists funded by oil companies to academics who want grants to study climate from the government under the approved legislation-supporting view. Faced with this, what are we to make of these choices?