Shortages in the Land of Plenty
What have CO2 levels been up to in the last 600,000,000 years?
CO2 in the atmosphere currently sits at about 420 ppm and has risen close to 200 ppm in the last 150 years. It’s only ever been this low once before in the last 325,000,000 years. It’s been as high as 7000 ppm. By all accounts, life on the planet thrived when CO2 levels were at their highs. Commercial greenhouses use CO2 to stimulate growth and prefer levels around 1200 to 1500 ppm for maximum benefit.
As you can see in the graph, there is no historical evidence that CO2 causes warming of the planet. If anything, warming temperatures may CAUSE CO2 levels to rise. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) who have appointed themselves the world’s leading voice on all things climate, has access to the data yet refuses to acknowledge it. They prefer to use computer models to predict future warming trends where they control the variables and get to pick and choose which ones they like. After 35 years, virtually every computer prediction put out by them has been way off and the alarming temperature increases have never materialized. They never admit that part. It would almost be comical, except they are wasting vast amounts of money that could be used to solve real environmental issues.
The CO2 theory of global warming has been largely discredited by climatologists working outside of the highly political IPCC, but there are still significant reasons why humans are contributing to global warming including urbanization, industrial agriculture and the release of waste heat.
One glaring way that urbanization contributes to warming is through the “Urban Heat Island” effect which in a city like Phoenix, Arizona can result in a 20 degree F. temperature elevation, relative to the same conditions outside of the city. Imagine, what that does to skew weather station temperatures and the majority of stations are located in urban areas! There are no laws that say you can’t build a Walmart right next to an historical weather station. A recent study indicates the effect can be as high as 20%. https://www.drroyspencer.com/2023/07/the-urban-heat-island-effect-in-ghcn-station-temperatures-urban-locations-show-large-spurious-warming-effects/. NOAA, who creates the temperature data sets, blends the urban temperatures in with the rural ones, giving a nice man-made bump to the overall averages. Flawed weather station data could disguise worrisome cooling trends as some seem to be experiencing in the last number of years. We could only know by watching our gardens struggle in cold wet springs.
It seems foolhardy for the IPCC to be so attached to their belief systems when real and serious environmental threats exist and are largely ignored. For the vast amounts of money wasted over 35 years, we could have solved most pressing world environmental issues. Heavy sigh…
