Last week the message of my column was simple and somewhat cliché – we should be open-minded when discussing things we know little about. This week I’d like to test the reader’s ability to do so. I will come out and say it. I do not believe that man’s actions are having disastrous or even significant effects on the global climate. Before you crucify me, read on.

Because I don’t have the space in this column nor the endurance to engage in global warming debate with the entire Northwestern campus, I decided the best I could do is allow the reader to test their own knowledge of global warming. All I ask is that the reader evaluates whether or not he knows enough to have an informed opinion. Beneath is a set of true-false questions. There are no trick questions. Just answer what you honestly believe to be true. The answers were fact checked by The Daily and can be found at the bottom. If you are surprised by any answers, there are detailed explanations for each question on my blog. Enjoy!

1. In England, it is illegal to present “An Inconvenient Truth” in classrooms as a scientific documentary.

2. There is a scientific consensus that man-made (anthropogenic) global warming is happening.

3. CO2 is the most abundant greenhouse gas in the earth’s atmosphere.

4. The U.S., China, India and Germany combined, are the biggest greenhouse gas emitters on the planet.

5. From 1940 to 1975, as CO2 emissions increased rapidly, the average global temperature increased.

6. All major deep-core ice samples have verified that changes in CO2 have caused changes in global temperature over the last 650,000 years, as shown in “An Inconvenient Truth.”

7. Using 10,000 years ago, 2,000 years ago, and 700 years ago as reference points, the current global temperature is higher than it was at each of these times.

8. The polar bear population has been in decline for the last 50 years.

9. Since 1976 the total ice coverage of the polar regions has increased.

10. A major driver of climate change is variability in solar effects, such as sunspot cycles, the sun’s magnetic field and solar particles.

11. The rate that the global temperature has increased (measured degree change per century) is unprecedented in the Holocene, the planet’s current interglacial period.

12. The calving of a glacier is a normally occurring phenomenon, due to a glacier’s retreat.

13. Atmospheric CO2 is a pollutant.

14. The greenhouse effect works the same way that a real greenhouse works, by modulating convection.

15. For 27 of the last 50 years, globally-averaged temperatures have declined.

16. The warming effect of carbon dioxide is logarithmic, meaning CO2 has a limited effect on temperature.

17. Global Cooling was considered to be a looming threat in the 1970’s.

18. The current atmospheric levels of CO2 are unprecedented.

Answers: 1T, 2F, 3F, 4F, 5F, 6F, 7F, 8F, 9T, 10T, 11F, 12F, 13F, 14F, 15T, 16T, 17T, 18F.

Weinberg freshman Cody Kittle can be reached at r-kittle@northwestern.edu.