The Last Frost

So Called "Myth" #3: Human produced carbon dioxide has increased over the last 100 years, adding to the Greenhouse effect, thus warming the earth.

Their Argument In A Nutshell: Yes, human produced CO2 has increased over the last 100 years but there is no proof CO2 causes global warming. Actually, global warming which is caused by the sun, results in increased CO2 levels. So CO2 is the result of warming not the cause, and there's a lot of evidence to prove it. [Read their original argument here - Myth #3]

The Truth: There are only two things these guys got right on this one. First, they admit CO2 levels have been rising an average of .4% annually for the last 100 years or so. Although I would bet they chose that statistic deliberately because it sounds like such a small number. Here's the same statistic from a slightly different perspective; since 1958, atmospheric CO2 levels have risen by more than 20%. It's the same amount, .4% annually and it's also true, but 20% in 49 years has a lot more impact than .4% annually in my opinion.

Second, global warming can in fact lead to increased atmospheric CO2 by a process known as a positive feedback loop, which you can read about in a previous post of mine if like. CO2 leads to warming, which leads to more CO2, which leads to more warming until some other counter balancing process takes off (hopefully) and counteracts the trend. When they talk about a lot of evidence to back up their claim that CO2 is the result of temperature increase, they must have been talking about these loops.

Anyway, you might have noticed how in their argument, they actually admit that humans have produced this .4% annual rise in atmospheric CO2. Yet if you read part 1 of 10 in this series of posts, you'll notice that they say they don't believe that humans cause global warming. So it seems like their whole argument is based on one thing, CO2 does not warm the planet. Because if CO2 did cause global warming, then their whole premise that humans don't cause climate change would be false by their own admission. Moving on…

Does CO2 cause global warming? That seems to be their big hang-up. CO2 is a greenhouse gas, not the only greenhouse gas, but one none-the-less. That is a known fact and you will never hear a self-respecting skeptic tell you otherwise. Greenhouse gases have a property that allows solar energy to pass through to the Earth's surface which is then warmed, but then they also trap some of the heat that would otherwise be radiated back out to space. Thus acting like a global greenhouse or a global blanket. By burning fossil fuels we are pumping huge amounts of CO2 into our atmosphere which makes that blanket of greenhouse gases thicker. Thicker blanket = warmer temperatures.

Using the "Friends of Science" own statements, humans have made our global blanket 20% thicker since 1958 when we started measuring atmospheric CO2. If you count all the way back to the industrial revolution, that blanket has been made even thicker by human produced CO2. Yet they still argue that humans don't cause global warming… am I missing something here?  

Common misconceptions about global warming – [Friends of Science]

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This entry was posted on Thursday, December 21st, 2006 at 9:57 am and is filed under Bullshit, Climate Change, Politics, Pollution, Rants, Science, Weather. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.