The
global warming controversy concerns the public debate over whether
global warming is occurring, how much has occurred in modern times, what has caused it, what its
effects will be, whether any action should be taken to curb it, and if so what that action should be. In the
scientific literature, there is a
strong consensus that global surface temperatures have increased in recent decades and that the trend is caused by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases. No scientific body of national or international standing disagrees with this view, though a few organizations with members in
extractive industries hold non-committal positions. Disputes over the key scientific facts of global warming are now more prevalent in the
popular media than in the scientific literature, where such issues are treated as resolved, and more prevalent in the
United States than
globally.