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The million-dollar question is: Is the amount of extra ‘greenhouse’ gas we’ve vented into the atmosphere causing significant amounts of extra radiation to be captured? (to the point where it would actually increase the earth’s average temperature and cause changing weather patterns, in addition to other ecological nastiness). Theoretically, it’s very possible.

It's actually not "very possible" when you consider that water vapor (of which 99.999% is of natural origin) accounts for 95% of the earth's atmospheric greenhouse effect.

Carbon dioxide contributes just 3.6% to the total atmospheric greenhouse effect.

Of that tiny 3.6% of greenhouse effect atttributable to CO2, only 3.2% can be attributed to human activity.

So approximately 0.11% of the atmosphere's greenhouse affect can be attributed to CO2 from human activity.

Were we to triple our CO2 emissions, or cut them in half, the effect on weather either way would most likely not even be measurable.

[OH4life]

Thank you. *This* is how you make a sane argument. Use actual numbers and make a logical case for it.

I bet most people that worry about global warming don’t understand that the greenhouse effect is what keeps our planet from being an uninhabitable ball of ice!

[T. Rustin Noone]

Thank you for the analysis.
However, I believe the correct proportion of free CO2 in the atmosphere is 0.36%, not 3.6%.