World leaders are fear mongering at the UN’s Paris Climate Summit with the familiar threat, “the end is nigh”. And it is our fault because of our “carbon emissions” (i.e. carbon dioxide) generated by the burning of coal, oil, and gas. The following facts provide overwhelming proof that carbon dioxide has been wrongly vilified and falsely accused of adversely affecting the planet’s climate.
FACT 1: The use of the term “carbon emissions” is misleading, suggesting it is black soot. It is actually carbon dioxide (“CO2”).
FACT 2: CO2 is a colourless, odourless, atmospheric trace gas (0.04%) that is essential for greening the planet.
FACT 3: When the climate alarmists denounce “carbon pollution”, they are wrongly denouncing CO2, a trace gas that is as important as water and oxygen in sustaining life on the planet.
FACT 4: CO2 is a vital part of the carbon cycle. We breath out CO2 while plants consume CO2.
FACT 5: If the CO2 content of the atmosphere is reduced to 0.015%, plants will not grow. The CO2 content is reduced dangerously close (0.018%) to the no-growth level during the planet’s naturally-occurring glaciation cycles.
FACT 6: We now live in a CO2-starved atmosphere. The store of CO2 available to green the planet has been severely depleted, and continues to be depleted, as a result of the formation of carbonate rocks (e.g. limestone). Ancient atmospheres contained at least 17 times the current CO2 content.
FACT 7: The consumption of all known deposits of coal, oil, and gas will not materially replenish the CO2 content of the atmosphere.
Our reserves of oil and gas would have to be 30 times larger in order to achieve a highly-desirable doubling of the atmosphere’s CO2 content.
Even the very questionable 2-degree Celsius increase predicted by the climate models for a doubling of the CO2 content would be desirable, especially as we approach another mini ice age (circa 2030).
The consumption of coal, oil, and gas assists in greening the planet.
More important, the debate regarding the alleged, heat-trapping properties of CO2 is irrelevant because the quantity of CO2 that we can generate is immaterial. Clearly, the demonizing of CO2 must be denounced if we wish to avoid the return of an impoverished, “carbon-free”, Medieval lifestyle.
It is tragic that world leaders fail to recognize and/or lack the courage to proclaim the truth about climate change.
There is no scientific evidence that our “carbon emissions” (CO2) have any detectable impact on the natural cycles of the planet’s ever-changing climate.
Changes in temperature, sea level, ice coverage, and the intensity and frequency of storms are well within natural variability.
Thorpe Watson, PhDWarfield
