18 Apr Climate Change: A Few Facts About Temperature and CO2
By: Elaine Fields, 2ndVote Contributor
Purveyors of fear about climate change assert that warming will cause, and has already caused, harmful effects such as extreme weather events, melting ice, rising sea levels, and extinctions. They assert without evidence that the increase in temperature that has occurred over the past 120 years was the result of increased atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) from mankind’s use of fossil fuels.
The narrative on climate is framed in reference to temperature change since pre-industrial times (1850-1900). The imperative is that we must limit temperature increase to 1.5⁰C above pre-industrial levels, i.e. 0.5⁰C above current global temperature, by eliminating fossil fuels and relying on so-called green energy.
Some facts worth pondering:
Compared to pre-industrial levels, the Earth has warmed ~ 1 degree C.- Pre-industrial atmospheric CO2 concentration was 280 parts per million (ppm), as of April 11, 2022 it was 418 ppm
- CO2’s role in atmospheric temperature is ~ 2%.
- Man’s role in atmospheric CO2 is ~ 3%.
- Temperatures were warmer than today during the Medieval Warming Period, 900-1300, when people weren’t putting much CO2 into the atmosphere.
- All six great ice ages started when CO2 levels were far higher than today.
- Temperature and atmospheric CO2 levels vary over time and show no relationship: There have been periods when both CO2 and temperature went up, periods when both went down, but also periods when CO2 went up and temperature went down, and periods when CO2 went down and temperature went up.
- NASA and others predict global cooling due to low sunspot activity.
- As of 2015, there was a 17-year period with no warming even though CO2 emissions increased significantly.
- The greatest global two-year cooling event of the last century took place February, 2016 to February, 2018, when global average temperature dropped 0.56⁰ C. This occurred against a backdrop of rising atmospheric CO2. The next biggest 2-year drop was 1982-1984.
- Climate naturally changes and has done so many times over the planet’s history.
- Climate is influenced by many factors, including the circulation of the oceans, movement of tectonic plates, movement of the atmosphere, and sun activity.
“The basis for a climate that is highly sensitive to added CO2 is solely due to the behavior of the computer models.” Richard Lindzen, Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, Emeritus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
In short, we must be good stewards of the earth and its environment while also not behaving erratically or irrationally by shutting down industry (and modern society) as we know it in an attempt to control things upon which we have little or no effect.
Recommended Reading: Climate Change: The Facts, Edited by Alan Moran; Mark Steyn; Alex Epstein, www.energytalkingpoints.com