Either in spite of dire warnings -- or perhaps because of them -- Americans are now less likely to think humans are overheating the planet.

Only 36 percent in a recent poll by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press said they believe human activity is causing global warming. Even the number of people who think Earth is heating up at all has dropped 20 points in three years, from 77 percent to 57 percent.

It's possible the far left's hysterics and cataclysmic predictions have turned some people into skeptics.

In addition, as the Obama administration seeks draconian limits on commerce and industry to combat global warming, more people may be starting to question whether it's an overreaction -- as well as questioning the wisdom of sharply curbing U.S. economic activity unilaterally while our global competitors do not likewise hamstring themselves.

There is no international consensus on what to do, and some of the world's worst polluters have shown no signs of joining us in taking decisive action.

This newspaper's view is that the science of global warming may be unsettled -- and that pitchmen such as Al Gore have greatly overplayed their hand -- but that, regardless, the world needs to take serious actions to reduce pollution and accelerate humankind's leap to clean energy. Thus, if global warming is indeed influenced by humans, we've then taken the necessary steps to reverse it -- and even if it's not, the worst we've done is cleaned up the planet a bit.

It only makes sense to seek alternatives to fossil fuels, coal and other polluting forms of energy. If we do so with unprecedented urgency, then so much the better.

Where some of us draw the line, however, is arbitrarily -- and quite likely unnecessarily -- crippling our economy with "cap and trade," which would be a huge tax openly designed to reduce industry and commerce through limits on emissions. Cap and trade -- which has passed the House but not the Senate -- would also make the federal government an all-powerful referee over energy consumption.

Considering the Pew poll results, that prospect may frighten more people than global warming.