It is a very bad misunderstanding of the atmosphere and how it works amongst the general population that has allowed the alarmists to confuse the issue. Alarmisim is saying that Co2 produced by manufacturing activity caused or is the major cause of the .7c temperature change since 1850. Alarmisim is blaming Co2 for all the worlds woes and technology for natural events when if it was not for the retrograde Luddites in the democratic party we would have had the technology in place today to kill hurricanes and tornadoes before they could wreck communities.
What drives climate, the sun drives climate and greenhouse gases moderate climate fluctuations. This is where the basic error of judgement is made about greenhouse gases in general and Co2 in particular.
http://www.weatherquestions.com/Roy-Spencer-on-global-warming.htm#
This link is a very basic study of climate interactions and how they work in the real world.
http://www.aip.org/history/climate/co2.htm
This is the history of how Co2 became the culprit in something that never happened. The basic flaw in reasoning that led to the AGW hypotheses is that the global temperatures of the late 1800s were normal and desirable while people with a better scientific and historical perspective knew they were at the low end of the cycle.
http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=5164
Some more research that illustrates how the mistake was made placing the blame on Co2 instead of sunspot activity.
http://www.indiana.edu/~geol105/1425chap4.htm
Added documentation on how the weather cycles are driven by solar activity and extremes are moderated and balanced by greenhouse gases. These gases in combination with the thermal storage of the oceans work to keep the planets temperature in balance within a fairly narrow range compared to what it would be without them.
http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?cid=9986&pid=12455&tid=282
More on how the atmosphere and oceans work together to moderate the worlds climate and keep it in a comfortable range.
http://climate-change.suite101.com/article.cfm/climate_change_solar_variability
Clear information on solar minimums and maximums and how they effect climate variability. Our sun is a variable output star and a misunderstanding of this variability is a major reason the AGW supporters have made so many errors in their climate models.
http://www.co2science.org/subject/l/littlemwp.php
Added studies on climate fluctuation over wide periods of time showing that while we are warmer than 1850 currently it is cooler and milder than previously documented climate optimums.