K - so Babs. You inquire thusly: "How do we know that it is man that is causing the increased CO2 levels?"

I am absolutely amazed at your presumption. The short answer is that virtually ALL the experts have come to that conclusion.

The only time that the American public ever question overwhelming scientific consensus is when that consensus violates some ideological or profit-driven conceptions. In this case the ideology is that perpetrated by our overwhelmingly corporate-owned and controlled media. They, famously, wish to maximize the short-term balance sheets of their masters, and the future be damned.

So - here are some few examples: the Copernican theory - the suggestion that the Earth is not actually the center of the Universe. Fought bitterly by religious authorities who determined, correctly, that it violated their beliefs and, ultimately, their fiscal well-being.

Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution through Natural Selection. Once again, completely opposed to all existing religious theory. The various Churches fought this for a while until they realized they couldn't, in good conscience, continue that battle.

Einstein’s Theories of General and Special Relativity were briefly opposed by large numbers of ideologues who did not like the implications of some sort of moral relativism or lack of absolutes in God’s Universe.

I could go on with those examples, but time and reader patience suggest I move on.

Contrast those examples with scientific theories such as quantum mechanics, the origin of the solar system, the existence (or lack of same) of dark matter, the expanding universe, and etc. When was the last time you saw a letter to the editor, or heard some discussion of those matters on right-wing radio shows? That was a rhetorical question. The answer is that you never have. Those questions have no clear ideological implications, and the scientists have been free to reach their conclusions without input from non-scientists such as yourself.

Though it is good and admirable that people question things, it is not so admirable that they completely ignore the conclusions of people who are experts in their fields.

I have some theories on the wildland fire problem in California. Care to discuss those with me?

Mike W. in Arroyo Grande, CA, U.S.