...global warming is directly linked to the declining number of pirates in the past 130 years, more pirates would of course therefore mean less global warming, right?

lain:
That sounds like the sort of logic and rationality that is taking America down, in my opinion.
So because a phenomenon is seen as singularly responsible for another phenomenon, that means that fiddling around with that second phenomenon will do away with the first one?
We need to get up to speed and start recognizing that the old ways of dealing with global problems is bankrupt and can no longer be effective.
No more is it simply "A" causes "B." It's A, B, C, D have a bearing on X, Y and Z. And the underlying truth I am trying to express is more complicated. More complicated than we can ever imagine.