Carbon Dioxide and Climate – Friend or Foe?

American Thinker.com ^ | April 18, 2022 | Brian C. Joondeph

[Kaslin]

In global warming circles, carbon dioxide is the bogey man, the cause of all evils. CO2 is another Vladimir Putin, blamed for rising gasoline prices and President Biden’s 8.5 percent inflation. Just as Putin isn’t responsible for consumer prices, which began rising shortly after Biden took office, CO2 may not be the bogey man hiding under the beds of Greta Thunberg and Al Gore, ready to pop out and consume the world.

Is CO2 really the bogey man? Is it a friend or foe of planet Earth? The answer may surprise you.

YouTube screen grab

CO2 is one of several greenhouse gasses. Water vapor however is the largest contributor to the Earth’s greenhouse effect. CO2 is also plant food. Think back to high school biology and photosynthesis. Water, CO2, and sunlight combine to produce carbohydrate and oxygen, the carbohydrate being the plant food.

CO2 is a relatively small percentage of air, 0.035% to be exact, less than one half of one percent of the air around us. CO2 levels can vary significantly, from less than 400 parts per million outdoors to over 1000 inside a crowded room. Submarine crews tolerate CO2 levels of up to 8000 parts per million without adverse health effects.

Although a minor component of our atmosphere, CO2 is essential for plant growth. A 100 percent increase in CO2 levels increases plant growth from 22-41 percent, depending on plant type. Aside from CO2, temperature also affects plant growth. Warmer temperatures translate to higher growth rates, assuming the other photosynthesis ingredients remain in place.

[RoosterRedux]

What do the plummeting indigenous populations in developed countries mean for human-caused “climate change”?

[BitWielder1]

CO₂ = Friend.
CO₂ Hysteria = Foe.

[Hot Tabasco]

95% of all the CO2 in the atmosphere comes from nature itself. Only 5% is man made.......

[palmer]

CO2 is a relatively small percentage of air, 0.035% to be exact,

To be exact it is 0.0418%.

[palmer]

The rise from 0.028% to 0.042% currently is almost entirely manmade. Without deforestation and fossil burning the rise would have been from 0.028% to about 0.03% or a bit higher, from ocean warming following the Little Ice Age. The idea that 95% of CO2 is natural comes from the annual cycle. There is at last 20 times more natural CO2 created each year than man-made. In the autumn. But the same amount is absorbed in the spring, by nature. So it doesn't add to the total over the years.

[palmer]

The bottom line is that higher CO2 levels in the air means plants lose less water, needing less water to thrive, and can grow in drier, otherwise unhospitable environments.

A very important point from the article. He also points out there is extra plant growth. Furthermore, any warming from CO2 (debatable how much) is a net benefit.

[teeman8r]

winter is coming.

[bray]

Where is the proof CO2 raises the eart’s temp?

[Rlsau1]

The sun is the source of all “warming”. If you notice, they never talk about all the variations in solar radiance.

[nesnah]

23 September 2020

"A new 11-year-cycle of the Sun has begun. Scientists believe the Sun was at its weakest in 2019 in the last 100 years or so — known as the solar minimum — and 2020 marks the beginning of the 25th cycle. But the odd thing is that solar activity, measured by the number of Sun spots at any given time, is pretty low even in 2020.

Sun spots are areas of strong magnetic forces on the surface of the Sun — sometimes as large as planets — that appear as darker spots because they are cooler.

The Sun had no Sun spots for around 71 per cent in 2020 through September 21, 2020, compared to 77 per cent in 2019, according to the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Environment Centre. In May this year, it was as high as 78 per cent, sparking fears of a Little Ice Age.

Scientists say the Sun may be going through a long period of decreased activity known as the Modern Grand Solar Minimum from 2020 to 2053. The last time such an event occurred was during the Maunder Minimum — from 1645 AD to 1710 AD, which was part of what is now known as the Little Ice Age — when Earth went through a series of elongated cold periods during the medieval centuries.

The alarm went off when a study predicted that the surface temperatures on Earth will go down noticeably during the Modern Grand Solar Minimum due to a 70 per cent reduction in solar magnetic activity."

-www.downtoearth.org

[Mobties]

Excellent article that doesn’t require more that a high school education to grasp.
Truth is often easily expressed in simple terms. Lies require elaborate and tenuous theories, invented vocabulary, and orchestrated promotion.

Regarding the author’s comment, “What if this is not really about the climate?”, it bears reminding that Lenin’s birthday, April 22, was chosen by the climatologists and environmentalists to be “Earth Day.” Hardly a coincidence.

[palmer]

Sometimes they talk about solar. But they never ever talk about what sets the temperature of the planet: geography. With Antarctica isolated, Greenland pretty far north, and the isthmus of Panama closed, there is a lot of cold deepwater formation. That has kept the earth in a permanent freezer for a million years with only brief thaws like the present.

Combine that with the weathering of the Himalayas and we ended up with CO2 starvation, down to 180 ppm in the last glaciation. At 150 ppm large amounts of earth's life will die off. Having extra CO2 is a very good thing and very necessary for our survival.

[palmer]

That's old info. Fortunately solar activity has recovered: https://spaceweatherarchive.com/2022/01/09/solar-cycle-25-update/

[Islander7]

“… small percentage of air, 0.035% to be exact, less than one half of one percent…”

Less than 0.1% actually. Ask a climate cultist the amount of atmospheric CO2 rounded to the nearest 1%. Then watch them turn purple.

[oldtech]

CO2 hysteria/Democrats= Foe

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Well, CO2 saved us from THE COMING ICE AGE!

POPULAR SCIENCE, Feb 1980..
PS/What’s News ....
page 73
Changing the weather intentionally or otherwise weather modification..(Earth cooling vs Greenhouse effect)

“Do you suppose we can learn enough, soon enough, to pull off a balancing act with the CO2 blanket saving us from another ice age?”

[consult]

Interesting read!

“the climate change alarmists at the UN and elsewhere are less concerned about carbon footprints and global temperatures than they are promoting a major socioeconomic reset, where top-down government control is used in the name of “saving the planet.””

[faucetman]

“Carbon Dioxide and Climate – Friend or Foe?”

DOESN’T MATTER!

There is NOTHING puny humans could do about it anyway.

[rktman]

No carbon, no life.