Print article -

Email article link to friend(s) -

Facebook -

Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) is claimed to be a "potent atmospheric greenhouse gas".

There are two problems with that claim.

First, the very notion that the atmosphere acts as a "greenhouse" is highly dubious. A greenhouse is a glass enclosure that literally traps warm air within its confines while daytime sunshine warms the air and provides the sunlight necessary for photosynthesis of plants. The atmosphere does not "trap" warm air. Warm atmospheric air rises due to convection and prevents Earth's atmosphere from overheating. It is worth noting that atmospheric CO₂ accounts for a trivial 0.0004% of the Earth's atmosphere.

Second, if any atmospheric gas were a "potent greenhouse gas" it would be water vapor. Water vapor is 1.5% of Earth's atmosphere (nearly 4000 times the portion contributed by CO₂).

But even more important, over the entire spectra of outbound IR radiation from Earth (4 to 70 microns) water vapor provides the vast majority of atmospheric absorption (see figure below).

The red "bell" curve shows the distribution of outbound IR from Earth. Note that carbon dioxide (tan) has only marginal additional absorption of outbound IR over a small portion of the spectra between 11 to 14 microns. Note that any impact methane might have in theory is overwhelmed by water vapor.

Clearly, the claim that atmospheric carbon dioxide is more than a marginal contributor to atmospheric temperature is unsupported by the science. Bear in mind that only a trivial portion of atmospheric carbon dioxide is contributed by fossil fuel emissions.

Climate alarmists never address the fact that CO₂ emissions are reabsorbed by Earth's biosphere (principally plant growth and cold ocean absorption) over a 5.4 year life cycle. This means that whatever CO₂ is emitted by fossil fuel usage this year will be reabsorbed by the year 2030 and any CO₂ emitted by fossil fuel usage prior to 2019 no longer exists in the atmosphere.

These scientific realities clearly demonstrate that policies like the "Green New Deal" are founded on ignorance and fiction and are a complete waste of public funds that can better be put to use elsewhere.

Another inconvenient truth about atmospheric carbon dioxide's impact on global climate is the fact that over more than the past half-billion years there is no correlation between the amount of atmospheric CO₂ and global climate. No correlation means causation is not possible.

Human-caused climate change is a fiction unsupported by science. Any politician who tries to use "climate change" as an issue deserves to be massively rejected by voters.

Carbon dioxide is not now, nor has it ever been a climate change force. It is a climate change farce.

Bob Webster
WEBCommentary (Editor, Publisher)

Send email feedback to Bob Webster

Biography - Bob Webster

Author of "Looking Out the Window", an evidence-based examination of the "climate change" issue, Bob Webster, is a 12th-generation descendent of both the Darte family (Connecticut, 1630s) and the Webster family (Massachusetts, 1630s). He is a descendant of Daniel Webster's father, Revolutionary War patriot Ebenezer Webster, who served with General Washington. Bob has always had a strong interest in early American history, our Constitution, U.S. politics, and law. Politically he is a constitutional republican with objectivist and libertarian roots. He has faith in the ultimate triumph of truth and reason over deception and emotion. He is a strong believer in our Constitution as written and views the abandonment of constitutional restraint by the regressive Progressive movement as a great danger to our Republic. His favorite novel is Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand and believes it should be required reading for all high school students so they can appreciate the cost of tolerating the growth of unconstitutional crushingly powerful central government. He strongly believes, as our Constitution enshrines, that the interests of the individual should be held superior to the interests of the state.

A lifelong interest in meteorology and climatology spurred his strong interest in science. Bob earned his degree in Mathematics at Virginia Tech, graduating in 1964.

Visit Bob Webster's website at WEBCommentary

Copyright © 2024 by Bob Webster
All Rights Reserved.

[ Back ]