Well, since someone called me on the theory versus fact definition issue, it has a lot to do with it. As I noted above, something is an accepted scientific theory when most scientists agree. They take a hypothesis proposed by one guy and then do their own peer reviews. I’ll use the example of Darwinism since I was called a creationist up above, which I am not by the way. Darwinism is an accepted theory – fact if you will – but that term is really too rough for science since theories, even though accepted at one point can be disproved at another. In my opinion it’s just a way to make the scientific method easier to understand for lay folk. Regular people know what a fact is and to them it can’t change. Scientists know they can (and often do – salt was bad for us, now it’s good).

Nearly all scientists agree with Darwin’s theory and it is not debated – hotly or not – for the most part (save for creationists, of which few are scientists). AGW is hotly debated among scientists worldwide and it has been discovered that much of the proof offered by scientists (including so-called objective peer review) to support the theory has been falsified, so it does matter.

Yes an occurrence of something is a fact. Ten people see an apple fall from a tree and that incident is a fact (it’s a fact even if one sees it, but independent witnesses are always welcome). But the theory of why it falls – gravity – is something no one can really see. It’s a hypothesis that Gallileo first came up with and which was ultimately accepted by other scientists (Newton)and which then became scientific theory – or fact.

So, again, without getting all bogged down in things. AGW is not a fact. It’s not even an accepted theory in that about as many scientists disagree with it as do and much of the data supporting it is wrong – falsified even. Add in the observable “facts” that the polar ice is not getting smaller and the sea levels have not risen even remotely as high as has been claimed by AGW supporters over the past decades, and I feel confident in saying it is still just a hypothesis and not a theory or fact.

And the photo is obviously doctored.