Zeev's Turnips Talk Politics (ZTTP)

[seabass]

>>>Please provide a link showing that high CO2 levels causes global warming<<<



"MYTH: Water vapor is the most important, abundant greenhouse gas. So if we’re going to control a greenhouse gas, why don’t we control it instead of carbon dioxide (CO2)?

FACT: Although water vapor traps more heat than CO2, because of the relationships among CO2, water vapor and climate, to fight global warming nations must focus on controlling CO2.

Atmospheric levels of CO2 are determined by how much coal, natural gas and oil we burn and how many trees we cut down, as well as by natural processes like plant growth. Atmospheric levels of water vapor, on the other hand, cannot be directly controlled by people; rather, they are determined by temperatures. The warmer the atmosphere, the more water vapor it can hold. As a result, water vapor is part of an amplifying effect. Greenhouse gases like CO2 warm the air, which in turn adds to the stock of water vapor, which in turn traps more heat and accelerates warming. Scientists know this because of satellite measurements documenting a rise in water vapor concentrations as the globe has warmed.

The best way to lower temperature and thus reduce water vapor levels is to reduce CO2 emissions."

http://www.environmentaldefense.org/page.cfm?tagID=1011



What causes global warming?

Carbon dioxide and other air pollution that is collecting in the atmosphere like a thickening blanket, trapping the sun's heat and causing the planet to warm up. Coal-burning power plants are the largest U.S. source of carbon dioxide pollution -- they produce 2.5 billion tons every year. Automobiles, the second largest source, create nearly 1.5 billion tons of CO2 annually.

Here's the good news: technologies exist today to make cars that run cleaner and burn less gas, modernize power plants and generate electricity from nonpolluting sources, and cut our electricity use through energy efficiency. The challenge is to be sure these solutions are put to use."

http://www.nrdc.org/globalWarming/f101.asp


"Human activity releases CO2 from the fossil fuels that we burn, especially since the industrial revolution. The CO2 level in the air has been monitored since the 1950's and is increasing. Besides a natural annual change (it drops each spring as plants grow and rises each fall as leaves decay), there has been a steady background rise of about 20% in the past 100 years. This is caused by humans. And it should cause the earth to get warmer.

Nearly 100 years ago the Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius and the American geologist Thomas C. Chamberlin independently advanced the hypothesis that changes in the abundance of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would affect the surface temperature of the earth. Arrhenius estimated that a doubling of the concentration would cause a global warming of about nine degrees C. In 1939 G. S. Callendar suggested that the global warming observed over the previous 60 years might have been caused by an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels. Gilbert N. Plass argued along similar lines in the early 1950's.

None of the above is in dispute. But when coal burns it also releases small particles and SO2 which forms small droplets: these reflect incoming sunlight and cool the earth. This offsets the warming effect, but the relative balance is in dispute. Also there is a "law of diminishing returns" here. Maybe CO2 levels are already high enough that more does not make much more difference."

http://www.bigissueground.com/scienceandfuture/blair-co2andglobalwarming.shtml