Politicians have declared that global warming will be a catastrophe and that CO2 is its cause.
I am not a climatologist, but, like you, I have had to decide whether CO2 is causing global warming.
As an engineer, I have examined the facts and concluded that global warming is, for the most part, a natural phenomenon. What follows are some of the reasons that have led me to such a conclusion. Perhaps this information will help as you make your decision with respect to the need for cutting CO2 emissions by 80 percent, which is what politicians are saying we must do.
1. Temperatures in 1100 AD were higher than they are today, a time long before the advent of coal fired power plants. The Vikings settled in Greenland and grapes were grown in Scotland.
2. There was a little ice age extending from the 1500’s until the early 1800’s and the world has been warming naturally since then. Coincidentally, CO2 emissions started to grow with the advent of the industrial revolution in the mid 1800’s. The river Thames froze over with fairs held on the ice, the book Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates described how canals froze in Holland during this period, and a picture of George Washington crossing the Delaware clearly shows extensive ice in the river — ice that is no longer there.
3. Global temperatures have been steady or declining for the past ten years while CO2 in the atmosphere has continued to rise. If temperatures are declining while CO2 in the atmosphere is rising, it’s an indication there is no cause and effect relationship.
4. Glaciers at many locations started their retreat long before the advent of the industrial revolution. The Mendenhall glacier in Alaska started to retreat around 1765. The Nigardsbreen and Storbreen glaciers in Norway started their retreats around 1750. The glacier on Mt Kilimanjaro has been retreating in spite of the fact that temperatures at the glacier haven’t risen above freezing. The ice isn’t melting, it’s sublimating; probably due to a lack of moisture caused by a change in the forests below the glacier.
5. The Pacific Decadal Oscillation has caused temperature changes in Alaska for centuries.
The Aleutian low pressure sits in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. When the low is strong, temperatures in Alaska rise. When it’s weak, temperatures in Alaska fall. The low pressure area shifts from strong to weak, and back again, around every three decades – thus the term decadal oscillation.
6. The fingerprint for demonstrating that CO2 is the cause of warming is missing.
Computer models used by the UN’s International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) all predict an area of rising temperatures at about 10 kilometers above the equator. Temperature readings taken by satellite and by balloons show no increase in temperature where the computer models predict temperatures should rise. The fingerprint is missing.
7. NOAA’s network of 1221 stations for measuring temperatures around the United States is producing inaccurate temperature data. A survey of 865 of NOAA’s temperature stations found that 89 percent, or nearly nine out of ten stations produced unreliable data due to improper sitings. Further, 58 percent had errors greater than two degrees Celsius and 11 percent had errors greater than five degrees Celsius.
Nearly all of the items cited here are easily observed or ascertained by anyone interested in finding the facts.
There are many additional facts that require some judgment to evaluate. For example:
- CO2 in the atmosphere rises after temperatures rise – not the other way around.
- CO2 has a decreasing effect on temperatures as the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere increases.
For me, there is overwhelming evidence that global warming is not being caused by CO2 emissions.
With these facts in mind, I believe that enacting legislation (such as the Waxman-Markey Bill) to force an 80 percent reduction in CO2 emissions is both unnecessary and unwise.
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