[Chief Rum]

I know it's not easy to talk about this subject without getting political but I'm curious to see where the board breakdown is now on global warming.

I have read enough scientific articles and watched enough documentaries that I feel like I have a pretty decent handle on global warming and what's going on with it.

As a fiscal conservative, for the longest time I thought of this issue as less than paramount. The research wasn't quite there yet to back up making the kinds of massive changes that were proposed, and the backers were Green Party advocates and far left liberals who were crying over about a million things. This didn't endear me to the cause.

In recent years though, I have become much more enamored with the outdoors and natural beauty. It's really an amazing planet we have. And the evidence now seems overwhelming that we are the cause of the global warming and extreme weather trends we are seeing. And the impact of this and in the very not so distant future appears to me to be immense.

So my questions for discussion for you all are:

1. Did you believe before (let's say 10-15 years back) that humanity was the cause of global warming?
2. Do you still believe that human activity and global warming are unrelated?
3. Is global warming happening?
4. What do you think needs to be done?
5. How quickly do you think it needs to be done?

To me, this should be the top issue in front of us. Not economics nor wealth disparity, not race or gender or sexual orientation equality, not trade or budget deficits, definitely not immigration or gun rights. Maybe not even terrorism, although I still place the U.S.'s geopolitical role very highly as a matter to be debated.