Global Warming and the use of Data

The causes and possible responses to global climate change intimately involve basic chemical principles.  The general consensus on these issues is clear   A recent Wall Street Journal op-ed piece questions the scientific consensus.  While the WSJ op-ed page is definitely not a scientific journal the authors of the piece offer the following data to support their claims:



The Guardian offers a response to the WSJ piece taking on the points raised in the WSJ piece more or less one-by-one.  The Guardian piece offers the following data to support their claims:








              
Hansen et al. (1981) global warming projections under a scenario of high energy growth (red) and slow energy growth (blue) vs. observations (black). Actual energy growth has been between the two Hansen scenarios. 

The purpose of the current post is simply to raise the following questions for the consideration of students.  From what is shown of the two figures which provides the most useful and relevent information on the global climate change problem.