[Paloma_55]

I have a problem with the suggestion that global warming is subject to "engineering changes".

Greenhouse gasses? Yes, I think we could do something about them if in fact, we determined they mattered...which has not been proven.

But global warming is currently unproven to have a humankind component to it. Prior global temperature rises were higher than the current one, are periodic, and appeared long before human activity.



This is similar to suggesting that we have to solve a flat tire by re-engineering the car..when the flat tire has nothing to do with the design, it has to do with a nail that we had no control over.

[cogitator]

Prior global temperature rises were higher than the current one, are periodic, and appeared long before human activity.

Certainly, but the key area of the plot you posted is the area subsequent to the last glacial period termination. Even though the resolution of this graph is coarse for that time period, it should be discernible that temperatures have been fairly stable. In fact, since the last glacial period the temperatures for this interglacial have been abnormally stable for the Pleistocene interglacials. That's why human activities, which have forced the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere about 80 ppm higher than the natural peak values seen in the data (the red line in the plot) are adding a perturbation to a stable climate period. Increasing CO2 in the atmosphere alters Earth's radiative balance such that a global temperature increase would be the likeliest outcome.

[Armando Guerra]

I've seen that graph posted before. Looks to me like global cooling will be the bigger problem longterm.

[Old Professer]

One day somebody is going to realize that either we are measuring incorrectly currently or our proxy indices are flawed; the graph you show indicates to me that carbon dioxide appears self-limiting at 280ppm in ice cores while the free air levels have skyrocketed since we began measuring directly.

Why don't we flash freeze samples of air, compress them and analyze the CO2 levels in the lab?

[Robert A Cook PE]

More like:

Our 18 wheeler is slowing down every time we go up a hill; therefore, the democrat/liberal/socialists DEMAND that we MUST solve the problem NOW.

Now, the democrats/liberals/socialists want us to get out of the truck and start pushing.

But without looking at whether we are at the top of the hill, the bottom, or still going up. And first we (the USA) must put on the brakes, stop our truck, and watch all the other cars drive past as fast as they can.

THEN we can start pushing.

[roaddog727]

Good analogy