Global Warming as Mass Neurosis

Wall Street Journal ^ | July 1, 2008 | BRET STEPHENS

[The Raven]

Last week marked the 20th anniversary of the mass hysteria phenomenon known as global warming. Much of the science has since been discredited. Now it's time for political scientists, theologians and psychiatrists to weigh in.

What, discredited? Thousands of scientists insist otherwise, none more noisily than NASA's Jim Hansen, who first banged the gong with his June 23, 1988, congressional testimony (delivered with all the modesty of "99% confidence").

AP The New True Believers But mother nature has opinions of her own. NASA now begrudgingly confirms that the hottest year on record in the continental 48 was not 1998, as previously believed, but 1934, and that six of the 10 hottest years since 1880 antedate 1954. Data from 3,000 scientific robots in the world's oceans show there has been slight cooling in the past five years, never mind that "80% to 90% of global warming involves heating up ocean waters," according to a report by NPR's Richard Harris.

The Arctic ice cap may be thinning, ....

[arderkrag]

I’m surprised that even the WSJ would be brave enough to throw down the gauntlet this hard.

[goldstategop]

The Left is a religion. Its theology is Gaia worship and its apostle is Algore.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[ishabibble]

HGTV has become unwatchable, thanks to the green movement. Macy's has gone green, so I no longer shop there. The Gore scheme says that we must all conform. Except for Gore himself, of course.

This global hysteria is an experiment in mass mind control.
Like the feminists, the homosexual agenda, and even more sinister, the vegan movement, the greens want to tell me how to live and what to think. And you, too. We must all conform to their world view. Sorry, no thanks. I have been a sensible and responsible adult for most of my life, and I don't need a bunch of hysterical cheerleaders to manage my life or my thinking for me. Please pass the DDT:)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2026087/posts

[tcostell]

Awesome piece.

[dennisw]

CO2 is roughly 1/3 of one percent of our atmosphere. It has risen .08% in one century so the scientists say, not sure I trust this claim but.....  These are very small portions of the earth's atmosphere and are too small to influence world temperatures. If CO2 rises to 6-7% I seriously doubt that increase can raise temperatures much or create a runaway greenhouse effect

[gusopol3]

this is of course the central dogma (increased atmospheric CO2 = increased temperature) as well as the prime motivation for the attack on corporatism/capitalism. He couldn’t have thought very long or hard about the piece without so much as mentioning it.

[xcamel]

[Paladin2]

"CO2 is roughly 1/3 of one percent of our atmosphere"

Perhaps roughly 1/30 of one percent?

[livius]

Two excellent points:

And surely it is in keeping with this essentially religious outlook that the "solutions" chiefly offered to global warming involve radical changes to personal behavior, all of them with an ascetic, virtue-centric bent: drive less, buy less, walk lightly upon the earth and so on. A light carbon footprint has become the 21st-century equivalent of sexual abstinence.

And this one:

Socialism may have failed as an economic theory, but global warming alarmism, with its dire warnings about the consequences of industry and consumerism, is equally a rebuke to capitalism. Take just about any other discredited leftist nostrum of yore – population control, higher taxes, a vast new regulatory regime, global economic redistribution, an enhanced role for the United Nations – and global warming provides a justification.

I had to translate an article about a resort a European hotel chain is building in Brazil, where they are going to take part in some kind of "carbon offset" scheme (basically extortion) in order to build there. All hotel guests will also be given a personal "carbon assessment," based upon which they will make an individual payment to this fund. I can't imagine anybody in their right mind who would want to stay there, but I'm sure there are people who are not only willing to put up with this assessment (which must inquire about things like the vehicle you drive and the size of your house, etc.) and probably even feel virtuous for doing so. It's utterly nutz.

[dennisw]

Nitrogen	78.0842%
Oxygen	20.9463%
Argon	0.93422%
Carbon dioxide	0.03811%
Water vapor	about 1%
Other	0.002%

Wikipedia
One third of one percent is 0.033333%

CO2 rise of  from 0.02870%  to   0.03811% in one hundred years

You are correct!
The eco-freaks are going crazy over CO2 increasing less than one tenth of one percent.

Roughly -  in 100 years they claim CO2 has risen just short of one tenth of a percent ---->>>0.02870%  to   0.03811%

[Paladin2]

One third of one percent is 0.033333%

Perhaps 0.33333%

Note 1/3 of 1 is 0.333333333.

[dennisw]

Brazil ratified the Kyoto Protocol in August 2002.......

LOL Before they discovered all that offshore oil
Prior to that they thought they would be running their cars on sugar cane for good.

Eco-wackos like burning up corn and sugar cane to power automobiles. They like grain shortages

[dennisw]

Yeah I totally screwed up. CO2 will be under 1% for a long time.

Similarities with our Present World

---

Average global temperatures in the Early Carboniferous Period were hot- approximately 20° C (68° F). However, cooling during the Middle Carboniferous reduced average global temperatures to about 12° C (54° F). As shown on the chart below, this is comparable to the average global temperature on Earth today!

Similarly, atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the Early Carboniferous Period were approximately 1500 ppm (parts per million), but by the Middle Carboniferous had declined to about 350 ppm -- comparable to average CO2 concentrations today!

Earth's atmosphere today contains about 380 ppm CO2 (0.038%). Compared to former geologic times, our present atmosphere, like the Late Carboniferous atmosphere, is CO2- impoverished! In the last 600 million years of Earth's history only the Carboniferous Period and our present age, the Quaternary Period, have witnessed CO2 levels less than 400 ppm.

 

Global Temperature and Atmospheric CO2 over Geologic Time 

 

Late Carboniferous to Early Permian time (315 mya -- 270 mya) is the only time period in the last 600 million years when both atmospheric CO2 and temperatures were as low as they are today (Quaternary Period ).

Temperature after C.R. Scotese http://www.scotese.com/climate.htm
CO2 after R.A. Berner, 2001 (GEOCARB III)

 

 

There has historically been much more CO2 in our atmosphere than exists today. For example, during the Jurassic Period (200 mya), average CO2 concentrations were about 1800 ppm or about 4.7 times higher than today. The highest concentrations of CO2 during all of the Paleozoic Era occurred during the Cambrian Period, nearly 7000 ppm -- about 18 times higher than today.

The Carboniferous Period and the Ordovician Period were the only geological periods during the Paleozoic Era when global temperatures were as low as they are today. To the consternation of global warming proponents, the Late Ordovician Period was also an Ice Age while at the same time CO2 concentrations then were nearly 12 times higher than today-- 4400 ppm. According to greenhouse theory, Earth should have been exceedingly hot. Instead, global temperatures were no warmer than today. Clearly, other factors besides atmospheric carbon influence earth temperatures and global warming.

[submarinerswife]

The eco-freaks are going crazy over CO2 increasing less than one tenth of one percent

Have they attempted to prove that Co2 is the culprit that is causing this warming/cooling thing?

Has anyone figured in the big volcanoes under the Artic as maybe having something to do with some ice melting?

[mike-zed]

A nice, concise, accurate article.

It is somewhat shocking to see the WSJ publish this. They’ve been drinking the global warming kool-aid for some time now. Hopefully this is the start of rational journalism on the topic there.

[steelyourfaith]

 

Beam me to Planet Gore !

[livius]

I read some statements from Lula the other day in reference to the oil discovery. He was clearly conflicted, because about half the speech was about how Brazil was going to become a major petroleum producer and not be a member of OPEC, and the other half was about how Brazil was going to corner the ethanol market with its sugar cane production!

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

The argument goes something like this: Unpolarized molecules like O2, N2 and Ar have essentially no interaction with infrared radiation. Polarized molecules like CO2 and H20 account for almost all the trapping of IR radiation. This has the effect of shifting the equilibrium point to higher temperatures. The unpolarized molecules don't even count, they're aren't there for the purpose of warming the earth. Without C02 or water vapor the equator would be as cold as poles are now.

By that standard there has been approximately a 30% increase in the contribution of CO2 since 1861, for whatever reasons. I don't know the relative contributions of CO2 and water vapor, assume either molecule has about the same effect. In that case there has been about 1% increase in greenhouse gases since 1861, with perhaps a total increase of 2% by the end of the century.

How will such an increase effect climate? I don't know. I don't trust the models because they are not poorly validated, they are completely unvalidated, or worse, empirically refuted.

Further, as the author points out, the stridency of the advocates makes one doubt not only their motives, but their sanity. There are clever people who are blinded by the need to feel significant. Al Gore would fit into this class if he were clever. The Rosenbergs are sort of the exemplar of the class, people who sacrifice their lives to fulfill an messianic ego trip.

[Onelifetogive]

A light carbon footprint has become the 21st-century equivalent of sexual abstinence.

And Algore a pedophile priest?