The Penn and Teller show BS had an episode on global warming. It featured a 60 second section by the founder of the Weather Channel. The trend line of CO2 is only up over the 20th century, while weather oscillates warm and cold in at least two cycles. AKA, rising CO2 didn’t prevent two cold periods over a century, so it doesn’t cause global warming.
Right!
As CO2 is added to the atmosphere, it absorbs more Infrared radiation from the earth. Eventually, nearly all of the IR that CAN be absorbed HAS BEEN absorbed. Additional CO2 has little or no effect.
“In fact already 95% of the radiant energy is absorbed by CO2 at pre-industrial levels leaving a maximum of just 5% for any increase you like. It is often estimated that the CO2 green house warming component of the planet is about 3 degrees C so this extra absorption and emission to the surface would appear to only add just 0.15 degrees of warming.” http://clivebest.com/blog/?p=1169
Another interesting observation about CO2 & IR.