Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: SmithL

By “emissions”, the authorities mean CO2, then we are nowhere NEAR any “tipping point”.

Carbon dioxide is ESSENTIAL to life as we know it, and if it were three, or four, or five times its present level, that would not impact negatively on either the mean temperature of our atmosphere and oceans, or in our ability to adapt to its presence.

Too much CO2 causes us to breathe faster, and may have some short-term effects on our body chemistry, but unlike carbon monoxide, is not in the least “poisonous”, else we could not finish a can of Coca-Cola.

As to the effect of CO2 on “global warming”, CO2 is a TRAILING indicator, its percentage of composition in the atmosphere increasing only AFTER the environment has grown measurably warmer. Despite grave warnings not th speak of the sun as the probable source of temperature variations on earth’s surface, the sun is still the major factor in the relative amount of heat retained in the oceans and atmosphere. And the core of earth itself, is a molten mass, with temperatures far too warm to be tolerated by living things that have evolved in the biosphere of this planet. This heat is continually leaking outward to the surface of the planet, sometimes in violent eruptions of magma flow, bur always a steady radiation and conduction through the upper layers of the earth’s crust.


11 posted on 07/31/2007 3:04:18 PM PDT by alloysteel (Never attribute to ignorance that which is adequately explained by stupidity.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]


To: alloysteel
If what you've said is correct, that CO2 is a trailing indicator, and if the lag time is, say, twenty years, then the following could happen: We implement strict controls on emissions. The earth continues to warm. We strengthen the controls massively. The warming continues. Then, twenty years from initial implementation, there is a precipitous drop in Earth's temperature over 2-3 years' time. Can we say "Ice Age?"

Naturally, all of the foregoing is hypothetical and assumes the GW premise for the sake of discussion. Moreover it is simplistic in that it does not consider contributing factors or their interactions.

14 posted on 08/01/2007 1:09:14 AM PDT by Lexinom (http://www.gohunter08.com Don't let the press pick our candidates)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson