9th argument - most important one
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Posted by HenryW on 12:32:36 2008/09/25
In Reply to:
Re: 8 arguments against the Liberal carbon tax posted by Bill Narvey
I did not see the most important argument --- what the is wrong with CO2? There are many scientists who state there is no evidence that humans (especially CO2) has anything to do with changes in the climate. We have had no significant warming since 1998 and cooling for the last couple of years. Ocean currents have been cooling for several years.
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Why expend so much money/time/effort on something that we know so little about. No models have successfully predicted our climate or weather. No models have successfully predicted the El Nino or El Nina effects - and they drastically change the climate.
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We should not have any discussion about the economic merits of a carbon tax. Let's discuss the fact that there is no evidence that CO2 is bad.
Here is a typical article with some facts -- of course you have to believe what you want to believe.
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IN the 1970s, some climatologists warned the world about global cooling.
Now it's GW. Then it was particulates in the air blocking the sun; now
it's CO2 forming a greenhouse effect.
CO2 is now presented as the most dangerous greenhouse gas in the Earth's
atmosphere, the primary cause of GW. Some even call it a pollutant. I'd
like to shed some light on this issue.
CO2 makes a very small contribution to the Earth's temperature. It is
only 0.039 percent of the atmosphere. Nitrogen, oxygen, water vapor and
argon comprise more than 99 percent of the atmosphere. Furthermore, carbon
dioxide is not a particularly effective greenhouse gas. Out of the wide
spectrum of radiation received from the sun, CO2 only absorbs energy from
three very narrow levels.
Many people believe there is a difference between man-made CO2 and
natural CO2. There is no difference. Carbon dioxide is comprised of one
carbon atom and two oxygen atoms. CO2 is a natural, vital part of
biological life. Ants, termites and decaying foliage account for the
formation of most of the CO2. There are more than a quadrillion ants and
termites. These also make a major contribution to other greenhouse gases,
methane and ammonia.
CO2 is removed from the atmosphere by plant life. Chemists call it
equilibrium. When large amounts of CO2 are created by volcanoes or forest
fires, the metabolism of plant life increases and in a short time removes
the CO2 from the air.
If there is less CO2 in the atmosphere, the metabolism of plant life
slows down. Thus, the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere stay very close to a
yearly average of 0.039 percent. Because of the dynamic nature of our
atmosphere, CO2 levels are always rising or falling. Low levels follow
high levels. Ice core sampling demonstrates that this equilibrium has
been in place for millennia.
The gas most responsible for the Earth's temperature is water vapor, by
far the most important greenhouse gas. Not only does water vapor account
for 3 percent to 4 percent of the atmosphere, it also accepts energy from
the sun in virtually all energy levels. Water vapor is thousands of
times more responsible for temperature than CO2. Ask any climatologist; he
will tell you that this is in fact the case.
The oceans control the level of water vapor in the atmosphere. Water
vapor is also responsible for cooling the planet, forming the cloud layer
and reflecting the sun's energy. Again, an equilibrium. True, the
atmosphere may warm for a while, but this causes more water to leave the
oceans and fill the atmosphere. Over time, this causes a denser cloud
cover, cooling the Earth.
A common practice among climatologists is to treat the Earth as a closed
system. But certain gasses do in fact leave our atmosphere. All gases of a
molecular weight 18 or above tend to be held by the Earth's
gravitational field. Water is molecular weight (mw)18 and CO2 is mw44.
They stay on the
Earth. Methane and ammonia, the predominant gases of animal life on the
planet, leave the gravitational field and go off into space and out of our
atmosphere because their molecular weights are 16 and 17, respectively.
Presenting these as greenhouse gases does not give a complete picture of
their presence in our atmosphere.
So the oceans control both the warming and the cooling of the earth.
Man's
contribution of these gases is almost not measurable compared to what
nature produces. Humans, with all our cars and factories, account for
less than 1 percent of the CO2 present at any one time. Furthermore, man
does not control the water cycle. We simply are not that important. We can
work to keep the Earth clean, but we cannot control the atmosphere. Many
climatologists are aware of this but do not give this critical
information to the public.
GW activists believe mankind is altering the Earth's temperature.
Although
many know that man's contribution is negligible, it is not to their
political advantage to reveal this fact. Climate scientists receive
funding from the government to research causes of and solutions to
man-made GW. If the current warming were demonstrated to be the natural
cycle, this funding would be cut.
The 1970s climatologists had incomplete data, believing we were plunging
into an ice age. Predictions made now are equally apocalyptic. They again
are based on climate models with incomplete data or, in some cases,
deliberately withheld data.
We are now making costly political decisions based on the "fact" that
human activity is causing the temperature to rise. Many politicians believe
that human-caused GW is real and that since this view is held by a
"consensus of scientists," further study is unnecessary. Climatologists
need to come forward without fear and give the public the truth. CO2's
contribution to GW is minimal; water vapor is the great buffer for the
Earth's temperature; the oceans control this process. Humans have no
measurable control over global temperatures.
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