According to Terry Jarrett of LifeZette the cause of so-called global warming may be solar activity, not carbon dioxide as we’ve been led to believe. Jarrett writes:
When it comes to the global warming debate, both alarmists and critics agree on one thing: The earth has warmed by roughly 0.8 degrees Celsius over the past 150 years. It’s the cause of this warming, however, that remains in dispute. And while the public is constantly bombarded with messages about the evils of carbon dioxide emissions, there are actually compelling reasons to believe that contemporary global warming has been driven by rising solar output, not carbon dioxide.
To start with the basics, when the sun’s ultraviolet radiation strikes the earth’s surface, it is re-emitted as heat in the form of infrared radiation (IR). Carbon dioxide is one of the atmospheric gases that absorb and re-radiate this heat.