Part 2 in the Is Global Warming a Hoax? series.
Is global warming, aka climate change, caused by humans? Many political leaders and environmentalist groups swear that it is. They warn that if we don’t do something soon, the consequences will be catastrophic. If humans are the cause of global warming, then maybe there is something we can do, but if we are not the cause and global warming is a natural cycle, then we are pretty much just along for the ride.
In part 1 of this series, I discussed whether the Earth is warming or cooling. The conclusion I came to is that it appears to be both. The temperature of the Earth rises and falls quite regularly. In recent years, it seems to have stabilized and may now be starting to fall. There is not a constant climb in average temperatures that can be seen on a graph. It’s more of a roller coaster with the temperature going up for a period and then going down. So, are these swings in temperature caused by humans?
There are plenty of people out there who say, “Yes, global warming is caused by humans.” They claim that when CO2 is released into the atmosphere, it traps heat. Humans keep emitting more and more CO2 into the atmosphere, and this increase in CO2 causes more heat to be trapped. This in turn causes temperatures to rise. That seems to be the global warming theory in a nutshell. Is this what is actually happening? If temperatures are now stabilizing or falling, it appears unlikely but lets examine it a little closer.
The amount of CO2 in our atmosphere is extremely small compared to the other gases that are present.
It is an established fact that about 97% of the CO2 in the atmosphere comes from natural decay. If CO2 is only .04% of the atmosphere and humans only contribute about 3% of it, then we are talking about an extremely small number. If my math is right (someone correct me if I’m wrong), CO2 from humans accounts for 0.000012% of the atmosphere. Is this enough to cause a catastrophe? I’m not a scientist so I don’t know for sure, but it does seem unlikely.
Maybe if we compared the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere now to what we know to have existed in the past, things will become clearer.
CO2 levels were much higher in the distant past than they are now. Does this mean temperatures were much higher in the past? If the global warming theory is correct, they must have been higher.
From the above graph, it seems that global temperature and CO2 concentrations do not have any relationship. This is a very simple observation, but it appears that the tiny amount of human caused CO2 in the atmosphere has no affect on temperature. This does not mean that we shouldn’t be careful about what we emit into the atmosphere. However, we should not radically change our entire economy and way of life (i.e. the Cap and Trade bill) because of a coming catastrophe that does not appear to even exist.
So far in this global warming series I have attempted to answer two questions. Is the Earth getting warmer and are humans causing global warming? What I have come up with is that it appears the Earth is not getting any warmer than it has in the past and it may now be cooling. There also appears to be no correlation between CO2 levels and temperature, especially the tiny amount of CO2 (0.000012% of the atmosphere) that humans are responsible for. Therefore, humans are probably not responsible for climate change.
Next in the series — What is the ideal temperature of the Earth?
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Outstanding, simply outstanding! Great research and presentation. Kinda makes being a AGW heresy fun, doesn’t it? Especially considering that the facts are on our side.
Excellent post. It just makes sense.
What seems small to you can easily be explained as being significant to a scientist.
Let’s say you’re taking a medicine and its based on weight. If the doctor prescribes what may seem like just a little bit too much of the medication it can cause side effects and even death. Well, humans can prescribed what to you seems like a little too much carbon dioxide and this could actually have devastating effects. Science is a very specific thing.
Janet,
The amount of CO2 in the air now is a much smaller amount than what has been in the atmosphere in the past. That is what 2 of the above charts show. If a slight increase in CO2 from the last century is going to have devastating effects on the Earth, how did the Earth survive when CO2 levels were drastically higher than they are now? All I’m asking is that you have an open mind and look at the evidence on a larger scale. There are many things that influence weather and temperature on Earth. CO2 is not the only influence. In fact there is not much evidence that it has any effect on temperatures. Solar activity has a much higher impact on weather. In the last few years solar activity has been low, and now we are seeing lower temperatures. 10-20 years ago solar activity was high and we were seeing higher temperatures.
From my reading and research it appears that we are probably going to have a very cold, maybe record breaking winter this year despite all the claims from politicians about global warming. Don’t take my word for it, just start doing some research for yourself. You will find that the debate about global warming and if it even exists is far from settled.
My research actually has involved studying what scientists say…people who know what’s going on. The debate about climate change exists between those who understand science and those who claim to…clearly, you’re in the claiming side.