Supposed global warming has been a hot topic and has been widely reported in the American media since the 1970s. In March 2014, TED, a non-profit organization committed to expanding ideas with short talks, gave a powerful presentation on the supposed current consequences of global warming in Gavin Schmidt's (2014) talk: The emerging pattern of Climate Change. His statements are stark and he implores his audience to take the dire predictions of global warming seriously and not dismiss them as simply insignificant. While Google Trends (2014) shows (graph 1) that search terms for global warming in the US (red) have declined while worldwide interest (blue) (image 1) fluctuates with India showing the most curiosity . However, not everyone agrees that global warming is real, just as not everyone agrees that cigarette smoking is dangerous to your health when scientific studies prove otherwise. By defining global warming, providing key arguments on both sides of the argument, and offering an overview of scientific studies, this article will help you think critically and thoughtfully about global warming. Graphic 1 Search Terms Image 1 World Map Search Terms: “The Global Warming” being the primary search query, the graphic represents a combination of all search queries. Map: Darker blue shows greater interest. Global Warming Many American government agencies and universities offer global warming definitions to define this phenomenon. The Environmental Protection Agency (2014) provides a simplistic definition with four main points: (1) “Climate change is happening… The Earth's average temperature. has increased" over the last century, (2) "Humans are largely responsible for [] recent climate change... half of the document... an old change that makes summers potentially unbearable or deadly and a whole series of other problems (Lindsey, 2012). Animals could be affected and forced to live in alternative areas and a myriad of other consequences. (EPA Staff, 2014) Conclusion The topic of global warming will not go away, regardless of your position on the issue. Despite nearly endless warnings about the dangers of smoking, people continue to start and continue to smoke even though literature is abundant on the possible consequences for their health. Likewise, there are those who believe that global warming is true, yet continue to consume at the same rate even though they believe that rising temperatures will cause harm to the planet. The alarm has been sounded and now is the time to carefully review all the academic literature to decide where we stand on this important issue.