I don't believe in the theory of Global Warming for one minute! I've been doing some online investigation, and found a good website. Scientists are arguing among themselves! If they don't believe it—and they're the experts—why should we?

If there were widespread disagreement among climatologists on whether humans are causing global warming and climate change, that would be interesting. But it's simply not true.

It's not scientists who reject climate change, but portions of a largely uninformed public. According to the Pew Research Center (2023), 26% of Americans say warming is mainly caused by natural patterns in the environment, and another 14% don't believe there's a shred of evidence the Earth is warming at all. That means 40% of Americans are out of step with climate science. Nearly half disagree: 46% say human activity is the primary reason why the Earth is warming. A recent study (2024) by The Center for American Progress is also à propos: 23% of the members of Congress are "climate deniers." Could this be correlated with the fact that only 22 percent of American high school graduates are proficient in science, according to a NIH study (2021)?

Yet no such level of disagreement exists among the scientific community. According to NASA, 97% of actively publishing climate scientists agree that humans are causing global warming and climate change. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) also reports that 97% of climate scientists agree that human-caused climate change is happening. The verdict is nearly unanimous! And according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), "Since systematic scientific assessments began in the 1970s, the influence of human activity on the warming of the climate system has evolved from theory to established fact." 

So, while the public (most of whom are not trained in science) hold varying opinions about the science of climate change, virtually all climate scientists agree that humans are responsible for global warming, and that this does not bode well for the planet.

The following may be your questions. But if not, they are questions that many others have asked.

1) What's the hard evidence for Global Warming?
Arctic and Antarctic sea ice is fast disappearing, extreme weather events are increasing in frequency, glaciers are retreating, ocean acidification and temperature are increasing, sea levels are rising, and the planet's snow cover is melting away. Further, comparisons of paleoclimate with today's climate reveal that current warming is occurring roughly 10 times faster than the average warming rate after the last ice age (roughly 12,000 years ago), and anthropogenic carbon dioxide is increasing some 250 times faster.

2) Where do scientists get their data?
From Earth-orbiting satellites, ice cores, tree rings, ocean sediments, coral reefs, and layers of sedimentary rocks. They are able to monitor the effect of greenhouse gases on the motion of infrared radiation throughout Earth's atmosphere.

3) In the furore over climate change, aren't people forgetting that these are just normal cycles?
Sure, Earth's climate is indeed dynamic; it changes through the ages. The last 800,000 years have seen 8 cycles of ice ages and warming periods. The current trend is different, as it is the result of human activity since the mid-1800s, and is proceeding in recent millennia at an unprecedented rate. Moreover, instead of only some parts of the planet warming, it appears the entire planet is being affected simultaneously. This is deeply concerning. It is undeniable that human activity has produced the atmospheric gases trapping more solar energy in the Earth system.

4) The whole planet's going to burn anyway, so why should Christians care about environment matters?
God told us to take care of the planet (Gen 1:28), not abuse it. We even look forward to a "new heaven and a new earth" (Isa 65:17; 66:2; 2 Pet 3:13; Rev 21:1). Respect for the planet, for nature, and for the entire cosmos is biblical; disrespect is profoundly inappropriate. This means Christians should respect science, care about the environment, learn about ecology, and think "green." As seekers after truth, we should also aim to be informed on any matter about which we hold strong opinions.

So if we don't have a strong science background, there are two respectable options: learn, or be quiet and listen to those who have received training. Yet all too often dogmatism is inversely proportional to knowledge!

For more on this topic:

Q&A 1573— What about global warming? (Creation Care IV, with John Clayton)