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Note: All of the material about greenhouse gases (water vapor and carbon dioxide) can be found on a new page, located here. The Kyoto Climate Control Protocol is not about controlling pollution — it is about controlling the world's economy and the power of the United Nations by having every industrialized nation submit to restrictions on carbon dioxide production. Carbon dioxide is an inevitable byproduct of most industrial activity. The entire carbon dioxide "problem" is a colossal hoax, and the Kyoto Protocol merely adds credibility to this hoax. There is no carbon dioxide problem to solve, and even if it were a problem, the Kyoto Protocol would not be a remedy, because in general, it is the poorest countries in the world that are the worst polluters. The Greying of Green? It has been reliably estimated by many researchers into the subject of "Global Warming" (or any of the other sobriquets by which it is known) that in fulfilling the draconian prescriptions of the Kyoto Accord or its successors, such as the United Nations IPCC's Fourth Assessment Report, millions of jobs will be lost in the developed world, the quality of life in the industrialized nations will sink to substandard levels, and the inhabitants of the Third World will be deprived of the minimal immunities, comforts, and amenities to which they aspire. Progressives Crave Energy Scarcities. An all-purpose rationale for rationing in its many permutations has been the progressives' preferred apocalypse, the fear of climate change. But environmentalism as the thin end of an enormous wedge of regulation and redistribution is a spent force. How many Americans noticed that the latest United Nations climate change confabulation occurred in December in Durban, South Africa? The futility of this nullity signaled the end — probably for decades, if not forever — of a trivial pursuit that began 14 years ago with the Kyoto Protocol, which the U.S. Senate would not even bring to a vote. Canada pulling out of Kyoto accord. Canada is formally withdraw from the Kyoto accord on climate change, Environment Minister Peter Kent said Monday [12/12/2011]. "The Kyoto Protocol does not represent the path forward for Canada," Kent told a news conference in the foyer of the House of Commons, after his return from an international climate-change summit in Durban, South Africa. Canada Quits Kyoto Protocol, Dodges Tax Bullet. In a victory for common sense, America's largest trading partner has become the first country to bail on the Kyoto Protocol before the nearly $7 billion in non-compliance costs comes due next year. Thus ends a pointless and pricey exercise in martyrdom. Having committed to reducing 1990 level carbon emissions by 6%, Canada somehow managed to go in the other direction by 33%. Not that anyone in Canada would have noticed by any tangible common-sense measure, except perhaps for all the Canadian plants and trees quietly cheering the abundance of carbon dioxide and overproducing fresh oxygen as a result. Durban Climate Conference: The Dream Fades. Things don't look promising for the perennial climate confab which convenes in Durban, South Africa today. There is little chance of extending the expiring 1997 Kyoto Protocol to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. Kyoto has turned into a giant international scam that has already wasted hundreds of billions, with little to show for it; in fact, the increase in atmospheric levels of greenhouse gases has been accelerating. What brings nearly 200 delegations together is a dream — the forlorn hope that developed nations who have ratified the Protocol will come up with a $100-billion-per-year aid program. Canada to pull out of Kyoto Protocol next month. Canada will announce next month that it will formally withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol, CTV News has learned. The Harper government has tentatively planned an announcement for a few days before Christmas, CTV's Roger Smith reported Sunday evening [11/27/2011]. Good bye, Kyoto. The 1997 Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012, after surviving 15 years, mostly spent on life support. It reached its peak in Bali in 2007 at the annual UN gabfest, had a sudden unexpected collapse in Copenhagen in 2009, and has been in a coma since. Kyoto had its real beginning at the 1992 Global Climate Summit in Rio de Janeiro. I missed that great party but George Bush the elder went and signed up for the United States. Cap-and-Trade: A Scam Based on a Scam. The United Nations has been the locus of the greatest hoax perpetrated in the modern era, codified in the bogus Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement that many nations signed onto in 1997. The Clinton administration signed the agreement, but did not implement it due to a Senate resolution that unanimously rejected it. The real aim of the global warming scam is the prospect of selling "carbon credits" in exchanges around the world, in effect selling air! December 7, 2009; Another Day of Infamy? Kyoto was designed to make developed nations pay for the sin of development achieved by raising atmospheric CO2 levels and causing destructive climate change. CO2 is only causing warming and climate change in the completely doctored computer models of the IPCC. These models were controlled by the people exposed in the leaked files from the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia. Actually, Kyoto was a purely socialistic redistribution of wealth. In reality it won't work because you don't pull one nation up by pulling another down. Truth Behind Global Warming. Until recently, I was a fanatic environmentalist and gave my full support to the Kyoto Protocol. But "Unstoppable Global Warming," by S. Fred Singer and Dennis T. Avery, on the New York Times Bestseller list in 2008, distanced me far away from the theory of huge CO2-driven temperature increases. It's never been about global warming. The whole global warming craze is a massive Ponzi scheme designed to separate wealthy nations from their wealth and pass it over to developing nations without them having to actually go through the process of creating and earning that wealth. It's a gigantic global welfare scheme that if it comes to fruition, will equalize the wealth of all nations, making poor nations wealthier. It will also make wealthy nations poorer. ... It's about the Third World fleecing the West without actually having to create that wealth for itself. The Geography of Carbon Emissions. No American city is among the top 50 cities in the world for air pollution according to the World Bank. Another list, 'The Top Ten of the Dirty Thirty,' compiled by the Blacksmith Institute of New York compared the toxicity of contamination, the likelihood of it getting into humans and the number of people affected. Places were bumped up in rank if children were impacted. No US or European sites made the list. Climate pact in jeopardy as China refuses to cut carbon emissions. China will not make a binding commitment to reduce carbon emissions, putting in jeopardy the prospects for a global pact on climate change. Officials from Beijing told a UN conference in Bonn yesterday [6/11/2009] that China would increase its emissions to develop its economy rather than sign up to mandatory cuts. Kyoto vs. Kids: How Greens Hurt the Planet. Instead of focusing on initiatives with the greatest benefits, [politicians] tend to be swayed by those with the most vocal advocates. Take the Kyoto Protocol. Its $180 billion annual global cost would perhaps be worth the investment if it made any substantial difference to global warming. But even if Kyoto were implemented for the rest of this century, it would cut temperatures by just 0.3 degrees Fahrenheit. This doesn't pass a basic cost-benefit test. The Heat Is On True Believers. A Sunday New York Times story described an expected sea change in international global warming policy. ... Prominently missing from the 1,584-word story was any mention of President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore. That's a surprising omission considering that Gore negotiated the treaty for Clinton in 1997, and that Clinton never asked the Senate to ratify the pact, which mandated that the United States reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. Let's clear the air here. China's skyrocketing, coal-fuelled GHG emissions alone over the next few years — exempt from Kyoto because it's a developing nation — will more than wipe out all GHG reductions prescribed by Kyoto, even if the few dozen developed nations to which they apply, including Canada, achieve theirs. Many, including us, won't. That's just China. India and the rest of the developing world are also exempt. The hole in Kyoto's 'cap'. In reality, there is no "cap", either in the Kyoto accord or the "cap-and-trade" markets and carbon taxes it has spawned. In addition, while politicians like to pretend it's easy to create a cap-and-trade market or institute a carbon tax, nothing could be further from the truth. Japan will find it difficult to achieve Kyoto goals. Though work is already under way on setting midterm greenhouse gas reduction goals under a post-Kyoto Protocol framework, Japan may find it difficult to fulfill its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 6 percent from 1990 levels under the treaty. In fiscal 2007, the nation's greenhouse gas emissions reached a record high of 1.37 billion tons in preliminary figures — up 8.7 percent from fiscal 1990. Challenging the basis of Kyoto Protocol: Russian critics of the Kyoto Protocol, which calls for cuts in CO2 emissions, say that the theory underlying the pact lacks scientific basis. … "The Kyoto theorists have put the cart before the horse," says renowned Russian geographer Andrei Kapitsa. "It is global warming that triggers higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, not the other way round." Climate, Politics and Science: If "Kyoto" is so flawed, why do so many scientists and politicians support it? In this business that is called the Kyoto Protocol, it seems that the shakers and movers, the politicians and power seekers do not (want to) understand science and prefer cherry-picked opinion and research items to support decisions already taken. The motive was probably developed in the early eighties within the United Nations (Maurice Strong and other Globalisation proponents) when they saw a cause being created by the "green" activist groups, which had been inflamed by a presentation of a young NASA scientist, Dr. James Hansen. Kyoto's Long Goodbye. The irony is that Kyoto has handed [developing countries] every reason not to participate. Europe knew all along that it couldn't meet its quotas, so it created an out in "offsets." A British factory, say, buys a credit to pay for basic efficiency improvements in a Chinese coal plant, like installing smokestack scrubbers. This is a tax on the Brits to make Chinese industries more competitive. Sweet deal if you can get it. Here comes the next Kyoto agreement -- Kyoto Junior | Son of Kyoto | Kyoto II ... 1,000 meet in Ghana for climate change talks. Hundreds of negotiators are gathering in Ghana's capital to resume talks on a climate treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol when it expires. The weeklong conference began Thursday [8/21/2008] in Accra, with more than 1,000 delegates in attendance. The Global Warming Bubble: [China] has passed the U.S. as the world's leading emitter of carbon dioxide, and it accounted for two-thirds of the increase in the world's emissions in 2007. Global action against global warming makes little sense without China taking part, and it won't. Marx Would Have Loved Kyoto. The left has always proclaimed that poor countries are poor only because the capitalist West has exploited them, just as they proclaim the capitalist West has exploited Earth. Kyoto is the lefties' and greenies' payback. Karl Marx once said the goal of communism was a system that extracted from each according to his ability to give to each according to his need. Come to think of it, Kyoto says the same thing. Bag Man for Eco-Extremists. Kyoto's agenda wasn't to save the world, but to shackle economic activity in this country through curbing energy consumption. It's easy to understand why foreign economic competitors would want this, but why would [Al] Gore and American liberals want to do this to the American people? The answer is simple: the lust for power and importance. Remember: control energy and you control people. The Climate Alarmist Manifesto: Contemporary ecosocialists would simply play Robin Hood with the wealth and patented technology of "prosperous" nations under the false pretense of "saving the planet." Through Carbon trading, taxes, mandatory "clean energy" technology transfers, and other austere regulations, proposed UN-controlled international climate treaties to succeed Kyoto would penalize wealthy, innovative, capitalist countries while subsidizing poorer nations with waivers and foreign aid. And with most "good governance" requirements for beneficiary nations lifted, this equates to coerced underwriting of military regimes, dictatorships and, of course, socialists. China emissions to swamp Kyoto reductions by 2010. Within two years, Chinese emissions of greenhouse gases will have vastly outstripped the reductions achieved by all the countries that have signed up to the Kyoto protocol combined. As Went the Dodo so Will Kyoto. February has been a tough month for Global Warming doomsayers. First, their cataclysmic worst-case scenarios were debunked by the IPCC, which cut its own 2001 projections for temperature increase by a third and sea level rise completely in half. Then, just five days later, they learned that the environmentally irresponsible U.S was actually doing a better job of cutting CO2 emissions than their Kyoto-signing European Union heroes. And to top it off, attendees of a February 16th DC meeting of GLOBE nations agreed to abandon their adored Kyoto's economy-killing, energy-rationing, short-range, mandatory CO2 targets in favor of more realistic long-term goals. Kyoto: Not For All The Coal In China. China's booming economy has made it the world's biggest polluter. So why is it exempt from Kyoto, and why are the greenies so silent? Should we stop buying Chinese goods to fight global warming? Kyoto and the G8: A Day Late and a Euro Short. Later this year, China will overtake the United States as the world's leading emitter of greenhouse gases (GHG). At that time, some of the pressure to accept egregious UN-based Kyoto-style protocols will shift eastward from Washington to Beijing. It is that impending inversion which distinguishes this week's G8 summit in Heiligendamm, Germany, as the EU alarmists' last-gasp effort to impose their flawed and failing cap-and-trade policies on America, and ultimately, the entire world. A Haunting We Will Go. So what if a reduction in emissions by the means prescribed is impossible by 2050? Politicians don't want to hear it. And since politics very often consists of promising the impossible to the ignorant, the scientific bankruptcy of currently proposed Green initiatives is entirely irrelevant. Kyoto, like Peacekeeping is always good, though no one can say why. The climate change initiatives will continue to be put forward; they are an end in themselves. Beware deep-green luddites on climate. Kyoto has been shown to be bankrupt as a mechanism for reducing carbon emissions. Numerous countries that ratified the protocol are expected to overshoot their targeted reductions — Canada by 33 per cent, Spain by 41 per cent, Portugal by 37 per cent, Greece by 26 per cent — and the total impact of the Kyoto emission reductions is estimated to be a mere 0.6 per cent lower than they would have been if Kyoto had never been signed at all. Kyoto target is out of reach for New Zealand. In February this year a new Environment Minister said Canada would not attempt to meet its Kyoto target. As yet, Canada has not yet officially withdrawn but it seems likely this will happen before 2012, especially if the US, its neighbour and major trading partner, makes no moves to embrace the Kyoto treaty. Will New Zealand follow Canada? Top 10 'Global-Warming' Myths: Since Kyoto was agreed, Europe's CO2 emissions are rising twice as fast as those of the climate-criminal United States, a gap that is widening in more recent years. So we should jump on a sinking ship? The Kyoto chainsaw massacre. Increasing New Zealand's forestry plantation is one of the Government's key climate change levers. ... Ironically, large-scale conversions of forestry to farming are taking place in the central North Island and on the Canterbury plains. Smaller investors, spooked by the threat of Kyoto-related intervention in the sector, appear to be being put off forestry as an investment choice. For the first time in recent history, New Zealand cut down more trees last year than were planted. The Kyoto horror show: Here's my list of the "top 10" problems with the Kyoto accord on global warming. Feel free to add your own. (1) The United States, the world's biggest man-made greenhouse gas emitter — 20.6% of all global emissions as of 2000 — refuses to participate, arguing it would irreparably damage its economy and makes no demands on the developing world. (2) China, the world's second-biggest emitter (14.8%), is exempt from reducing greenhouse gases because it's a developing country. Climate ideology control: Cataclysm theorists point to computer models. But models are not evidence. Neither are headlines, hype or Hollywood special effects — nor incessant claims that every storm, drought, heat wave or cold snap is due to fossil fuels. Moreover, even perfect compliance with the Kyoto Protocol would do virtually nothing to stop hypothetical human-induced climate change. A convenient lie: Climate always changes. "An Inconvenient Truth" implies that all serious scientists agree that it is a crisis, and that the United States must immediately reduce carbon dioxide emissions as dictated by the Kyoto treaty the Bush administration so arrogantly refuses to sign — the same treaty the Clinton-Gore administration didn't even submit to the Senate. Inconvenient Kyoto Truths: We do not know how much we must change our economic activity to produce a particular reduction of warming. And we do not know whether warming is necessarily dangerous. Over the millennia, the planet has warmed and cooled for reasons that are unclear but clearly were unrelated to SUVs. Was life better when ice a mile thick covered Chicago? Was it worse when Greenland was so warm that Vikings farmed there? Are we sure the climate at this particular moment is exactly right, and that it must be preserved, no matter the cost? Canada is Turning Away from Kyoto. With Canadian carbon dioxide emissions currently 35 percent higher than Kyoto Protocol targets and rising every year, Canadian officials on May 2 slashed funding for programs that have failed to keep Canada in compliance with the accord. Media wars: SSI Tactics: It is probably impossible to persuade the American people that they want the carbon dioxide police in their backyard, with or without blue helmets. US senators face off on greenhouse gas emissions. Dozens of U.S. senators — including leading 2008 presidential contenders from both major parties — met on Tuesday [1/30/2007] to swap proposals that could spur the country's first-ever mandatory caps on greenhouse gases. "We need to cap and eventually significantly reduce our greenhouse gas emissions," said Sen. Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat who chairs the Senate Environment Committee. 4x4s to be priced off the road. Gas-guzzling sports cars, 4x4s and people carriers could be priced off the road within five years after a crackdown on carbon emissions to be announced by the European Commission this month. … The rule change could add more than £3,300 to the cost of a vehicle. Kyoto linked to soaring power bills. Canadians would see their hydro and natural-gas bills spike dramatically should the three opposition parties succeed in forcing the government to comply with Kyoto, Environment Minister Rona Ambrose warned Thursday [10/05/2006]. New Study Shows Hefty Price Tag for McCain-Lieberman Bill. U.S. Senators John McCain (R-Arizona) and Joseph Lieberman (D-Connecticut) in January 2004 introduced a modified version of the Climate Stewardship Act they had championed in 2003. According to a new study, McCain-Lieberman 2004
Forget Emissions — Let's Cut the Phony Rhetoric. Representatives from almost 200 countries met recently in Montreal to congratulate themselves on having signed (even though they then ignored) the Kyoto Treaty. The United States was not on the official guest list, because President Bush has always opposed Kyoto. Kyoto is pointless, say 60 leading scientists. Canada's new Conservative prime minister, Stephen Harper, has been urged by more than 60 leading international climate change experts to review the global warming policies he inherited from his centre-Left predecessor. In an open letter that includes five British scientists among the signatories, the experts praise his recent commitment to review the controversial Kyoto protocol on reducing emissions harmful to the environment. Climate Change's Gravy Train. In an open letter to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, 60 leading scientists called upon him to "re-visit the science on global warming and review the policies inherited from his leftwing predecessor." Referring to Kyoto as "pointless," the letter not only questioned the science of climate change, it also cites as a greater threat the billions of dollars that are to be wasted on associated research and development — an outgrowth of that self-same science. Tossing $930 Million Down a Rat Hole: China is exempt from any mandatory emissions reductions under the Kyoto Protocol so it has no reason to do so — unless you toss nearly a billion dollars its way. The End Is Not Near. We are (depending upon which side of the argument you are on) either facing the greatest threat to the health of the planet or we're about to spend trillions upon trillions of dollars on fixing something that doesn't actually need fixing. Why President Bush Is Right to Abandon the Kyoto Protocol: [President Bush] objected to the fact that the Protocol — which has been ratified by only one of the countries necessary before it could go into effect — still "exempts 80 percent of the world … from compliance." Time to Bury Kyoto and Move On. Do you think manmade global warming threatens the planet? Or that it's little more than an environmentalist sham? Either way it's time to realize that the celebrated Kyoto Protocol — long touted by the greens as essential to preventing ecological disaster — isn't just dying, it's decomposing. It's time for something new. The Greatest Danger Is the Kyoto Protocol, Not Global Warming. For several years, the news media have been warning us of the impending doom of global warming. Well, they almost got it right. Forget their reports that blame everything from hot weather to cold weather on global warming. The impending doom lurking just around the corner is the Kyoto Protocol — and Russia's decision to go along with this nonsense will make it a reality for a good bit of the globe. The U.S. is already under pressure to join in despite the potential price tag of more than $400 billion each year. Top Ten Junk Science Stories of the Past Decade: The Kyoto Protocol is being ignored by its EU signatories. Global warmers admit that the drastic and impossible step of halting all greenhouse gas emissions would have no impact on climate. Sky-high energy prices threaten our economy. Yet many yearn for global warming regulation. Global Warming Heats Up in the Senate. Though Americans already have successfully dodged the global warming bullet twice … there are three bills in the Senate that supporters are trying to attach to the energy legislation moving through Congress. Gassy senators: If the U.S. had ratified the Kyoto treaty, it would have had to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions to 1990 levels by 2012. Bipartisan opposition sank the treaty, and it wasn't even mentioned in the Democrats' 2004 platform — although its demise is always attributed in the press to the work of President Bush alone. With Kyoto itself off the table, senators have been busy trying to forge a Kyoto-lite. Japan scrambles to implement Kyoto Protocol. The Japanese government is trying to implement measures designed to cut greenhouse gas emissions now that the international Kyoto Protocol has taken effect, requiring countries to make major environmental efforts. Japan is required under the treaty to cut six percent of greenhouse gas emissions between 2008 and 2012 from 1990 levels. However, sources said Japan's gas emissions increased by eight percent in fiscal 2003 from 1990 levels. Gore lauds Seattle for leading cities to cut greenhouse gases. Former Vice President Al Gore visited Seattle on Friday [3/24/2006] to congratulate its citizens and mayor for leading 219 cities to commit to meeting the emission standards set by the Kyoto Protocol. Science, Politics and Death: Environmental extremism kills. Millions die annually because of restrictions on DDT, and imposing the "Kyoto" regulations would kill many more. Clouds gather over Kyoto climate pact. Doubts are already growing over the long-term future of the world's most ambitious environmental agreement. Kyoto treaty based on outdated science, Commons committee told. Scientists who oppose the prevailing views on climate change have been shut out of debate on the Kyoto protocol, the Commons environment committee was told Thursday [2/10/2005]. The result is that Canada may be wasting billions of dollars trying to curb emissions of carbon dioxide which is not a pollutant, said Charles Simpson, president of a Calgary-based group called Friends of Science. Destroying America To Save The World. For nearly four years, network news programs have presented a skewed view of global warming and the Kyoto treaty that liberal environmentalists claim would cure it. Those same newscasts have all-but ignored the negative economic consequences that ratifying Kyoto would have on the U.S. The network coverage also largely ignored scientific evidence questioning global warming theory, while touting dramatic claims of liberal environmental activists. The U.S. is Already Doing More than its Share to Lower Atmospheric Carbon. Should the United States tell Kyoto Protocol enthusiasts what they can do with their Earth-saving treaty? This less-than-diplomatic perspective on the global warming accord is justified, according to one critic, because there is sufficient evidence that this country's natural environment is steadily removing from the atmosphere the greenhouse gases it produces by burning fossil fuels. Regulating Greenhouse Gas Emissions. The Kyoto Protocol will be costly and do nothing to prevent global warming — even if humans are causing it. Proposed domestic actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions would cost only slightly less than Kyoto and would do even less to prevent global warming. Therefore, they merit even less consideration. Kyoto Misses its Targets — Hits the Poor Instead. Economic and scientific studies indicate that Kyoto will harm economies worldwide and only minimally – if at all – reduce global warming. More than 4,000 scientists, including 72 Nobel Prize winners, signed the Heidelberg Appeal warning industrialized nations that no compelling scientific evidence exists to justify mandatory cuts in greenhouse emissions. Kyoto by Another Name: McCain and Lieberman Make Climate Mischief. Who does Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.) think he is fooling? McCain's Climate Stewardship Act, cosponsored with Sen. Joe Lieberman (D., Conn.), is a political roadmap back to the Kyoto Protocol, the United Nations global-warming treaty that the Senate preemptively rejected by a vote of Requiem for the Kyoto Protocol: The Kyoto Protocol is a treaty intended to ration the use of energy to address the concerns of those who believe we face a global warming catastrophe. These worriers include not only environmental groups and anti-capitalist radicals, but also a surprising number of mainstream technocrats throughout the West. Global Warming Bill Defeated in Senate: Senate legislation to cap greenhouse gas emissions — the first of its kind since the Senate unanimously rejected the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 — was defeated on October 30 [2003] by a vote of Kyoto Protocol: Doing Dirty Work for Uncompetitive Nations. The Kyoto Protocol places severe restrictions on carbon dioxide production by countries like the United States while generally not applying them to developing nations, like China and India. According to the International Energy Agency, up to 85% of the projected increase in CO2 emissions will come from countries effectively exempted from the proposed treaty. This is an original compilation, Copyright © 2013 by Andrew K. Dart Scientists Speak on Global Warming: When President Bush rejected the Kyoto Treaty, he cited economic reasons, noting that 80% of the world, including heavy CO2 emitters India and China, is exempted from compliance. …It is timely to remind the President of the 17,000 scientists who signed the anti-Kyoto petition — ten times as many as have endorsed all pro-global warming statements combined. The Kyoto Global Warming Conference: Having mounted a huge "kitchen of tomorrow" display, complete with a refrigerator powered by $20,000, 15-foot-high solar panels (put THAT under your Christmas tree!), Greenpeace announced plans to offer free solar-brewed coffee to all comers. Of course, the sun didn't shine for the first three days and the coffee pot didn't work, suggesting a serious glitch in their rather expensive system. Economy-Destroying Kyoto Protocol Dies From Lack of Support. A senior adviser to President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Russia could not ratify the Kyoto Protocol limiting emissions of greenhouse gases, dealing a mortal blow to the pact that required Russia's ratification to take effect. The Global Warming Petition: We urge the United States government to reject the global warming agreement that was written in Kyoto, Japan in December, 1997, and any other similar proposals. The proposed limits on greenhouse gases would harm the environment, hinder the advance of science and technology, and damage the health and welfare of mankind. Explanation: During the past 2 years, more than 17,100 basic and applied American scientists, two-thirds with advanced degrees, have signed the Global Warming Petition. Signers of this petition so far include 2,660 physicists, geophysicists, climatologists, meteorologists, oceanographers, and environmental scientists who are especially well qualified to evaluate the effects of carbon dioxide on the Earth's atmosphere and climate. Signers of this petition also include 5,017 scientists whose fields of specialization in chemistry, biochemistry, biology, and other life sciences make them especially well qualified to evaluate the effects of carbon dioxide upon the Earth's plant and animal life. More Than 15,000 Scientists Protest Kyoto Accord: More than 15,000 scientists, two-thirds with advanced academic degrees, have now signed a Petition against the climate accord concluded in Kyoto (Japan) in December 1997. The Petition urges the US government to reject the Accord, which would force drastic cuts in energy use on the United States. The Kyoto Protocol's Endless Bureaucracy: The Kyoto Protocol is not needed, is not effective in mitigating climate change (even if developing nations were to cooperate), is economically destructive, and therefore politically unacceptable. Yet, it has already spawned a large international bureaucracy — even before being implemented. The Global Warming Hoax: Will the Russians ratify Kyoto? The treaty requires the votes of nations producing 55 percent of all emissions from developed countries. Currently, the tally is 44 percent, so the Russians, with 17 percent, hold the key. Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla) says that some Russians see negotiations on ratification "as a way to make some money. They want to see how big the bribe will be." Global Warming and Modern Environmentalism: You've got to read it to believe it. The Kyoto Protocol is 8,500 words of the most vague and incomprehensible gobbledygook ever contrived by the mind of man. I've had lots of experience writing and interpreting contracts (which is what treaties are), and if someone handed me this thing to sign, I'd fling him and his treaty out the door. Unsigning an unratified treaty: Operating with bureaucratic stealth and maneuvering under the political radar last month, the Environmental Protection Agency released a report claiming that human beings are causing atmospheric temperatures to rise, that the magnitude of global warming will be in line with U.N. predictions and that rising temperatures will result in scorching heat waves, droughts, floods and ecosystem collapse. Why the Kyoto Protocol Is Bad News: Most people know by now that the Kyoto Protocol on global warming would have the effect of restricting and penalizing U.S. industry while exempting the heavy polluters — China, India and Mexico, and Third World countries. But people probably don't know that it also could be an exercise in futility, because it just won't make much difference even after all the gyrations. Global Warming: What are the Facts and Impacts on Energy Policy Issues? Kyoto Protocol would avert only 0.06°C of Global Warming by 2050. Fully implementing the Kyoto Protocol would not produce a meaningful abatement of the projected warming trend. (PowerPoint presentation) Gore's Kyoto Protocol: Political, economic, and scientific realities suggest that both the economy and environment would be better served by energy abundance and wealth creation, not energy suppression in the quixotic quest to "stabilize climate." The Kyoto Protocol and U.S. Agriculture: How much is at stake? We estimate that compliance with the Protocol would increase U.S. farm production expenses between $10 and $20 billion per year and decrease farm income by Kyoto Protocol: Doing Dirty Work for Uncompetitive Nations. Britain's Environment Minister Michael Meacher recently pleaded that just as the world stood behind the U.S. in the War on Terror, the U.S. must now join the world in the War on Global Warming — by ratifying the ill-conceived Kyoto Protocol that President Bush rejected earlier this year. Assigning equal importance to these two efforts seems silly to most Americans, but Meacher's remark is still revealing. Bush Ignores Hot Air on "Global Warming": President Bush has turned a deaf ear to the alarmists pushing the theory of "global warming." He has stood firm, refusing to push for U.S. ratification of the Kyoto climate change treaty. Harvard Physicist Sides With Bush on "Global Warming": Measures such as those required by the 1997 Kyoto Protocol would cause American economic havoc. As the president correctly noted, the technology is not in place either to cut dramatically or capture CO2 emissions without severely curtailing economic activity. What Price Climate Control? Why the Kyoto Protocol is a bad insurance policy. Kyoto = Kick the United States: The anti-Bush brigade in the United States and abroad has coalesced around the Kyoto Protocol, thinking it is a neat hammer with which to hit our President. They are bragging that his strong stand against this fraudulent treaty is the principal factor in his slight drop in the polls, which the media were glad to feature as front-page news. The Fake Consensus on "Global Warming": Bush was repeatedly harangued by European politicians and the liberal U.S. press, which claimed that the theory of global warming is an established fact supported by a consensus of scientists, and unless we take immediate action to limit CO2 emissions, the environmental consequences would be disastrous — including deadly temperature rises, flooding of coastal cities and devastating climate changes. To his credit, Bush demurred and insisted that alleged global warming requires more scientific study, that the economic costs for the U.S. of Kyoto would be too high, and that exemptions in Kyoto for Third World countries such as China would negate the benefits of any cuts by advanced industrial countries. Give the man an A+ for science and political courage. Bush Defends Rejection of Kyoto Treaty: At issue is the 1997 Kyoto accord, a treaty signed by the United States [during the Clinton Administration] and 54 other nations. Whitman recommends abandoning Kyoto pact. What is the environmental cost of flying? Nothing, at least according to official figures. Because jetting between countries is classed as an international activity, the greenhouse-gas pollution of aircraft is missed out when countries total up their emissions. Bush Administration Must Say No To Jane And Kyoto Crawling to Kyoto II. [Scroll down] As I have said for nigh on a year, it is going to prove very confusing to the global warming industry when this issue can no longer be about George W. Bush. ... This is a complete reversal of seven years of venomous rhetoric and excuses for all manner of tantrums on the international stage including stunts at the United Nations and threats of trade wars. Back to the top of the page Greenhouse Gas Section: Environmentalists would have you believe that the greenhouse effect originated in the 20th century. The greenhouse effect is essential to the survival of life on Earth. If there were no greenhouse gases, the temperature of the air would be about 32°F (18°C) colder than it is. In other words, the world would be frozen most of the time.* The two predominant greenhouse gases are water vapor and carbon dioxide. You produce both of these gases when you exhale. Between 94½ and 96½ percent of atmospheric carbon dioxide comes from natural sources.* Between 94 and 98 percent of the warming effect is due to ordinary water vapor, which comes from the oceans and lakes. Calling Carbon Dioxide A Pollutant Doesn't Make It A Pollutant. It is becoming increasingly fashionable to maintain that carbon dioxide is a pollutant, one that should be regulated under the Clean Air Act. The Saturated Greenhouse Effect: Considering that we are told "the science is settled", one would think that the strength of the greenhouse effect (GHE) on Earth would be calculated based on atmospheric physics. That is, the computer models of the atmosphere would incorporate the physics of how the greenhouse effect works, so that by inputing some measured physical properties, the atmospheric gases, the models would determine the strength of the greenhouse effect and the surface temperatures. Unfortunately, this is not the case. If greenhouse gases are bad, how come rising CO2 levels increase agricultural productivity? Plenty of evidence from numerous studies indicates that the Earth has far more capacity to absorb greenhouse gases than the IPCC gives it credit for, many times more, and that additional CO2 will actually be beneficial to farming, both in the quantity and the quality of crops that can be raised. Carbon Dioxide Levels Are a Blessing, Not a Problem. For centuries, bloodletting was an accepted medical procedure administered by physicians to treat patients for most illnesses. In today's world, we find it almost inconceivable that such a practice was condoned by entire populations. Similarly, the claim that increased carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere is causing "global warming" has been accepted as "fact" in many countries worldwide. This belief has no more scientific foundation than the bloodletting of past generations. Greenhouse Gas Reporting: Frequently Asked Questions. The U.S. Voluntary Reporting of Greenhouse Gases Program was established by Section 1605(b) of the Energy Policy Act of 1992 to provide a means for organizations and individuals who have reduced their emissions to record their accomplishments. Carbon Garden: To listen to Gore and the legion of global warming alarmists, carbon dioxide is our greatest enemy. Not extremist Islamic jihadis. Not widespread economic collapse caused by hyperregulation of the world's economic leader, the U.S. Not global protectionism. Not a planet starved of energy. Yet it's carbon dioxide concentrations, not empty gases spewed by self-important busybodies, that are making the Earth bloom. CO2 levels are at their highest since humans began keeping records. The increased CO2 is fertilizing plants with needed carbon, making them grow bigger and faster. In praise of CO2: Planet Earth is on a roll! GPP is way up. NPP is way up. To the surprise of those who have been bearish on the planet, the data shows global production has been steadily climbing to record levels, ones not seen since these measurements began. GPP is Gross Primary Production, a measure of the daily output of the global biosphere -- the amount of new plant matter on land. NPP is Net Primary Production, an annual tally of the globe's production. Biomass is booming. The planet is the greenest it's been in decades, perhaps in centuries. 'Medieval Environmentalists' attack CO2 in their efforts to derail civilization. Why are carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, particularly the relatively small amount emitted by human activity, the sole focus of most climate change debates? In scientific circles, CO2 is referred to as a 'trace gas' that, for hundreds of thousands of years, has remained at or below five ten-thousandths of the atmosphere by volume. Even among the so-called 'greenhouse gases' (GHG), CO2 accounts for less that 4%, with water vapour being by far the most significant GHG. CO2 is clearly a miniscule component of the massive mechanisms that create climate and cause climate change. This global-warming fraud is designed to reduce our standard of living. I read with interest Sen. John Kerry's and Teresa Heinz Kerry's "Too much hot air on global warming." … But the Kerrys say nothing about reducing emissions from the number-one source in Washington state. Mount St. Helens, by itself, puts out thousands of times more CO2 than all the autos in the nation combined! Alleviate world hunger produce more clean carbon dioxide. Far from being a pollutant, man along with every animal on land, fish in the sea, and bird in the air is totally dependent on atmospheric carbon dioxide for his food supply. Some politicians complain that the United States with only 3% of the world population uses 25% of the energy. But the clean carbon dioxide which we produce is increasing food production everywhere on earth. Global Warming Heresy: Manmade carbon dioxide emissions are roughly 5 percent of the total; the rest are from natural sources such as volcanoes, dying vegetation and animals. Annually, volcanoes alone produce more carbon dioxide than all of mankind's activities. Oceans are responsible for most greenhouse gases. ... The bottom line is, the bulk of scientific evidence shows that what we've been told by environmentalists is pure bunk. "The Sky is Falling ... Again!" That's right, the radical environmentalists with nothing better to do, august representatives of academia and your cozy little fuzz ball politicians, have ginned up a new crisis. This time it is the ocean. … According to the all-wise pundits, man-made CO2 is rising into the upper atmosphere and is causing global warming. That's somewhat interesting in that CO2 is heavier than air and should sink, not rise. Unbearable Legislation: America's energy infrastructure will be crippled, and for what? China is building two coal-fired power plants a week and plans to build 97 airports in the next 12 years. Even if the United States reduces its carbon emissions to zero, global emissions are still likely to increase. If greenhouse gases are truly causing problems for the polar bear, U.S. legislative action will do nothing to protect it. San Francisco Regulators Seek Greenhouse Fee. San Francisco-area air quality regulators are proposing to charge a fee to most businesses based on the amount of greenhouse gases they emit. The fee — 4.2 cents per metric ton of carbon dioxide — would affect everything from oil refineries to power plants and would include landfills, factories, and small businesses such as restaurants and bakeries. The Myth of Vanishing CO2 Emissions: Environmental activists and some politicians are now promoting the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 60 percent or more by mid-century. CEO William O'Keefe and President Jeff Kueter, both of the George C. Marshall Institute, investigate whether this proposition is achievable and what this would cost Americans. Zealotry over global warming could damage our Earth far more than climate change. Carbon dioxide, like water vapour and oxygen, is not only completely harmless but is an essential element in our life support system. Not only do we exhale carbon dioxide every time we breathe, but plants need to absorb carbon dioxide in order to survive. Without carbon dioxide, there would be no plant life on the planet. And without plant life, there would be no human life either. When Your Only Tool is Coercion, Every Problem Looks Like Too Much Freedom. The entire purpose of [North Carolina's Climate Action Plan Advisory Group] was to find ways in which the citizens of the state could be forced to modify their behavior in order to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. … The interesting — and undisputed — fact is that these restrictions will not result in an overall reduction in global temperatures, even if the whole world adopts them. Yet CAPAG refused to take this into consideration during its deliberations. Earth Day Is a Holiday For Liars. I have followed the apocalyptic claims and the legislated mandates of the environmental movement since the 1970s and their single unifying factor has been the lies told to achieve various elements the Green agenda. … There is no scientific justification for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon dioxide represents a miniscule 0.038% of the Earth's atmosphere and increases in CO2 always follow climate change. It does not initiate it. The Greens are lying. Water Vapor Rules the Greenhouse System. Water vapor constitutes Earth's most significant greenhouse gas, accounting for about 95% of Earth's greenhouse effect. Interestingly, many "facts and figures' regarding global warming completely ignore the powerful effects of water vapor in the greenhouse system, carelessly (perhaps, deliberately) overstating human impacts as much as 20-fold. EPA Seeks To Have Water Vapor Classified As A Pollutant. If successful, the push to classify water vapor as a dangerous pollutant would impact virtually everyone. For instance, homeowners could see a wide variety of common activities that cause evaporation being regulated: watering the lawn, or using a hot tub or swimming pool. "Right now, we are not so concerned about the water vapor exhaled by people. That is low on our list of priorities", said Mr. Donaldson. "We'll tackle that manmade source at a later time." The Editor says... Evidently he's not kidding. This is just another way the EPA, having outlived its usefulness, is desperately looking for something to fix. How do you suppose Mr. Donaldson is going to keep the lakes and oceans from producing water vapor? Let the rest of the world make climate errors. Kevin Rudd has an unfortunate proclivity for proclaiming Australia should lead the world in its response to global warming. For a country so richly endowed with carbon-based energy resources, this does not immediately commend itself as the most obvious policy course for us to follow. And the latest discussion paper on emissions trading from the Garnaut review, released last Thursday, should have set political alarm bells ringing on the potential costs of action to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Are Carbon Cuts Just a Fantasy? What if there's no way to cut greenhouse emissions enough to make a real difference? That's the question raised by a commentary in Nature arguing that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has been too optimistic in its projections for the technological possibilities of reducing greenhouse emissions. Their calculations are called "a bombshell" in a separate news article in Nature about the paper. Dangerous assumptions. The United Nations Climate Conference in Bali in 2007 set the world on a two-year path to negotiate a successor to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. Yet not even the most rosy-eyed delegate could fail to recognize that stabilizing atmospheric carbon-dioxide concentrations is an enormous undertaking. Here we address the magnitude of the technological changes required to meet that challenge. We argue that the size of this technology challenge has been seriously underestimated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), diverting attention from policies that could directly stimulate technological innovation. [Also available in PDF] Report: Temperature Changes Precede CO2 Changes. Temperature changes precede changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide. Scientists have found carbon dioxide levels typically rise roughly 200 to 1,000 years after temperatures rise. That is, temperature change is the cause, not the result, of changing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. CO2 Regulation Could Crush Building Construction. [Scroll down] If the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ever decides to regulate greenhouse gases, it would trigger the very same stationary source controls. As a result, construction on any new or existing source with the potential to emit more than 250 tons of CO2 per year — which includes most large buildings — could come to a screeching halt. 'Green Hanukkia' campaign sparks ire. In a campaign that has spread like wildfire across the Internet, a group of Israeli environmentalists is encouraging Jews around the world to light at least one less candle this Hanukka to help the environment. The founders of the Green Hanukkia campaign found that every candle that burns completely produces 15 grams of carbon dioxide. If an estimated one million Israeli households light for eight days, they said, it would do significant damage to the atmosphere. The Editor says... Have the tree-huggers never heard of trees? The world's vegetation depends on this "significant damage to the atmosphere." The "carbon sink" and global warming: According to this week's Science magazine, the ocean's ability to absorb carbon may be far greater than previously estimated. That means that atmospheric CO2 gets eliminated perhaps twice as much as global warming alarmists thought, before this news came out. Why? Well, it turns out that there is a whole variety of tiny phytoplanktons --- single-celled plants --- that are called picoplanktons because they are so small. The Virtues of Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide: The annual increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide attributable to human activities — primarily the burning of coal, oil, and natural gas — is about 1 part in 10,000 of that contained in the oceans and biosphere — a contribution of ultimately negligible consequence. Since, however, this human-released carbon must travel through the atmosphere to reach the ocean and biotic reservoirs, human use, while it continues, has caused a transient rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide from about 0.03% to about 0.04% of atmospheric molecules. The primary environmental result of this rise is plant fertilization. We are moving carbon from below ground into the atmosphere, where it is available to produce more plants and animals — a wonderful and unexpected gift from the industrial revolution. $800 Billion Annual Cost to Capture Carbon. There will be a little more required to stop global warming than making "small changes to your daily routine," as Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" Web site has suggested. One of the authors of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Carbon Capture and Storage estimated the worldwide cost could run an astonishing $800 billion annually. California suit on car greenhouse gases dismissed. A U.S. federal judge tossed out a lawsuit by California's attorney general on Monday [9/17/2007] seeking hundreds of millions of dollars from six automakers for damaging the state with climate-changing greenhouse gases. Martin Jenkins, a federal judge in the Northern District of California, said the issue of global warming should be decided in the political rather than legal arena. Organic beer is CO2 sinner. Organic beer production emits substantially more greenhouse gases than ordinary beer, according to a Copenhagen University thesis. Jakob Majcher, author of the thesis, studied the total carbon dioxide emissions in connection with the brewing of organic and conventional lagers. The Climate is Less Sensitive to Greenhouse Gases Than Predicted, Study Says. How sensitive is Earth's climate? Sufficient to warm by at least several degrees in response to greenhouse gas pollution but perhaps not as sensitive as some scientists have feared, according to a new study. [Is it possible that the climate is self-adjusting? Is it possible that God is still in control of the things he created? Is it possible that environmentalists don't know everything?] The Greenhouse Myth: The notion that our atmosphere acts like a greenhouse — that is, so-called atmospheric "greenhouse gases," like water vapor and CO2, "trap" incoming solar radiation to warm the atmosphere — is wrong. Not only doesn't the atmosphere work that way, greenhouses don't either. The Right to Breathe: The United States Supreme Court this month heard arguments on the issue of whether carbon dioxide should be identified as a pollutant and be brought into the Environmental Protection Agency enforcement policies of the Clean Air Act. Webster describes a pollutant as a harmful chemical or waste material discharged into water or the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide, as it exists in the earth's atmosphere, has never been proven harmful. It is not a waste material. Carbon dioxide just happens to be the single most important part of the Earth's atmosphere as it relates to life on this planet. Greenhouse crusade rests on flawed logic. Shut down our coal industry — our children's wellbeing is at stake! This is the message from Greens' leader Bob Brown, who argues that because burning coal emits large amounts of greenhouse gases, the coal industry should be shut down within a matter of years. Australian of the Year Tim Flannery has echoed Brown's position, while Labor's environment spokesman, Peter Garrett, has also singled out coal, effectively calling for the growth of the industry to be frozen. The Real "Inconvenient Truth": Does the Earth's atmosphere primarily behave like an actual greenhouse? No. … An actual greenhouse works as a physical barrier to convection (the transfer of heat by currents in a fluid) while the atmosphere facilitates convection. So-called "greenhouse gases" in the Earth's atmosphere do not act as a barrier to convection so the impression of actual greenhouse-like activity in the Earth's atmosphere is wrong. Editor's Note: The article below is loaded with environmental bias and rash presuppositions, as the author describes CO2 as a dangerous gas, and assumes that sequestering CO2 underground will alleviate the greenhouse "problem". Scientists say buried gases may escape. Carbon dioxide buried underground has dissolved the minerals that help keep the dangerous greenhouse gas from escaping, US scientists have revealed. Researchers testing the viability of injecting CO2 into saline sedimentary aquifers, in a US Government experiment in Texas, found it caused carbonates and other minerals to dissolve rapidly, which could allow CO2 and brine to leak into the water table. Carbon's Kindergarten Cop: The Governor's pledge to lower greenhouse gas emissions in California to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050 will bring Californians little or no environmental benefit, while costing the citizenry a substantial amount of money. The Governor has long pandered to California's environmental interest groups, but as an earlier (and wiser) Republican Governor named Reagan observed, "Facts are stubborn things." The Earth's atmosphere is composed of 78% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0.038% carbon dioxide, and trace amounts of other gases, including water vapor. We call this "air" and humans depend on the oxygen content for life. At the same time all six billion of us individually exhale about two pounds of carbon dioxide every day. By contrast, Nature emits about 30 times more CO2 than humans. The oceans of the world absorb and release CO2 all the time. This is Nature's balance that maintains all life, animal and vegetable, on earth.* Taking a Molecule to Court: The Supreme Court, by agreeing to hear a case on whether the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must take steps to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, will finally judge on the alleged threat of global warming. The stakes are huge. Should the Court find in favor of the plaintiffs, it would put the EPA in control of the U.S. economy for the foreseeable future. States Set to Sue the U.S. Over Greenhouse Gases. New York is one of more than a dozen states, led by California, preparing to sue the Bush administration for holding up efforts to regulate emissions from cars and trucks, several people involved in the lawsuit said on Tuesday [10/23/2007]. The move comes as New York and other Northeastern states are stepping up their push for tougher regulation of greenhouse gases as part of their continuing opposition to President Bush's policies. The Editor says... Nothing wastes your money faster than the states filing a lawsuit against the federal government. The lawyers are the only ones who benefit, and no matter which side wins, the verdict will usually result in more regulations and intrusive restrictions on property owners and businesses. Inhofe Warns of Global Warming Laws. At a hearing on human health effects of global warming, Inhofe implied that [Barbara Boxer] was distracting members with studies of what might happen from global warming rather than focusing on "what will happen if we legislate global warming." Inhofe believes that any mandatory cap on greenhouse gas emissions will bear too great a cost for the economy for too little benefit. China overtakes US as world's biggest CO2 emitter. China has overtaken the United States as the world's biggest producer of carbon dioxide, the chief greenhouse gas, figures released today show. … China's emissions had not been expected to overtake those from the US, formerly the world's biggest polluter, for several years, although some reports predicted it could happen as early as next year. High Court Hears Global Warming Hoax. This week the Supreme Court heard arguments in Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency, a lawsuit brought by a coalition of 12 states, the cities of New York, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C., and environmental groups including the Environmental Defense Fund, Greenpeace and the Sierra Club. The case is an attempt to force the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate carbon dioxide as a dangerous air pollutant under the definition of the Clean Air Act. The Editor says... As usual, leftist troublemakers head to the courts to accomplish what they can't get done at the ballot box. When the Clean Air Act was written, who knew it would someday be used to regulate carbon dioxide? And of course this won't be the end of it. This kind of incrementalism only goes one direction, and it never stops. New Jersey's Nutty CO2 Notions: While an army of snowplows was at work on the roads of the Garden State, the little Green gnomes in the Department of Environmental Protection were working to reclassify carbon dioxide (CO2) as a "contaminant." If this becomes law, the DEP might as well arrest everyone living in the Garden State because humans generate CO2 every time they exhale. Nitrogen pollution drives trees to soak up more CO2. Nitrogen pumped into the environment by human activities such as driving cars and farming is fertilising tree growth and boosting the amount of carbon being stored in forests outside the tropics, say researchers. Their study provides a surprising example of how one type of human pollution is helping to counter another. "Carbon sinks" drain water. The rush to plant forests to soak up carbon dioxide, which contributes to global warming, could cause as many problems as it solves, with new research showing they can reduce local water supplies by up to 50 percent. An international study on the use of forest plantations as carbon sinks has found that while intensive plantations can help mitigate the effects of global warming, they can also sap streamflows and cause salinity. Rare Carbon Dioxide "Lake" Found Under the Ocean, Scientists Report. A team of scientists based in Japan and Germany has found an unusual "lake" of liquid carbon dioxide beneath the ocean floor. On Earth's surface carbon dioxide (CO2) is normally a gas, but in the cold, high-pressure ocean depths it cools and becomes a liquid. From Garden State to Greenhouse State. Carbon dioxide is the second most important "greenhouse gas", after water vapor, that helps keep the Earth habitable by retaining infrared (heat) radiation and warming the Earth. This is a natural process that occurs with or without help from humans. Additionally, life on Earth depends on carbon dioxide, which is used by the biosphere for food. Who's Afraid of CO2?. Carbon dioxide is not a pollutant. It is tasteless, colorless, nontoxic to humans at concentrations up to 13 times present levels and is essential to life. Plants breathe CO2, and as they grow and reproduce they exhale oxygen, making the earth habitable for humans. Instead of a disaster, the expected doubling of CO2 due to human activities will produce a number of benefits over the next century. Environmental Effects of Increased Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide: Predictions of global warming are based on computer climate modeling, a branch of science still in its infancy. The empirical evidence actual measurements of Earth's temperature shows no man-made warming trend. Indeed, over the past two decades, when CO2 levels have been at their highest, global average temperatures have actually cooled slightly. How come greenhouse gases increase agricultural productivity? What about greenhouse gases? Plenty of evidence from numerous studies indicates that the Earth has far more capacity to absorb greenhouse gases than we give it credit for, many times more, and that additional CO2 will actually be beneficial to farming, both in the volume and the quality of crops that can be raised. Enhanced or Impaired? Human health in a CO2-enriched warmer world. Global Warming Policy: Some Economic Implications. The link between greenhouse gas emissions and global temperature increases is uncertain, and some scientists believe the net effect of any global warming could be beneficial. US edges towards cap on greenhouse gases. The US yesterday [11/1/2007] took a first step towards mandatory controls on greenhouse gas emissions, in direct defiance of the Bush administration's policy on climate change. Yesterday's vote in a Senate subcommittee marks the first US move towards European-style policies. Although the caps on emissions approved do not go as far as those in Europe, environmental campaigners said they marked a decisive break with the administration's policies. How to Cripple an Economy: Well-intentioned schemes to restrict emissions of carbon dioxide could cost the economy half a trillion dollars. Photosynthesis in Second-Generation Pine Trees Grown in Air of Elevated CO2 Concentration. The study was conducted at Christchurch, New Zealand in open-top chambers, where the trees were irrigated daily and fertilized every three months. Water use efficiency was 49% higher in the foliage of the elevated CO2 treatment, although there was no change in needle stomatal conductance. The True Agenda? Global Governance! Fully 95% of the carbon dioxide is produced by natural sources such as evaporating seawater, decaying organic matter, and from plant and animal respiration. Each year, 157 billion metric tons is released in the atmosphere. Of this amount, barely 457.2 million tons comes from cars and trucks. According to American Enterprise Institute researcher, James Johnson, "Eliminating all U.S. gasoline powered vehicles would reduce worldwide carbon dioxide emissions by 0.18%." Less than one half of one half of one percent. Despite this minuscule contribution, Albert Gore, Jr., in his book "Earth in the Balance", advocates "eliminating the internal combustion engine" by the year 2018! Living with the greenhouse effect: A great deal of what you read and hear about the so-called "greenhouse effect" is either exaggerated, or misrepresented, or both. The blanket of our atmosphere keeps the surface of the planet a full 33°C warmer than it would otherwise be, and crucially (as far as life forms like us are concerned) raises the temperature above the freezing point of water. A Tale of Two Atmospheres Global warming is a natural geological process. An Ohio State University researcher predicts that the process could begin to reverse itself within 10 to 20 years. The researcher suggests that atmospheric carbon dioxide — often thought of as a key "greenhouse gas" — is not the cause of global warming. The opposite is most likely to be true: It is the rising global temperatures that are naturally increasing the levels of carbon dioxide, not the other way around, he says. Global Warming vs. Prosperity: Green's attempt to cut carbon dioxide emissions lacks supporting scientific evidence and will harm the country's prosperity. Orange Juice Vitamin C Concentration: How Is It Linked to the Air's CO2 Content? On the basis of this study, in the words of the authors, "there is reason to believe that an atmospheric CO2 enrichment of the magnitude expected over the current century may induce a large and sustained increase in the number of fruit produced by orange trees, a small increase in the size of the fruit, and a modest increase in the vitamin C concentration of the juice of the fruit, all of which effects bode well for this key agricultural product that plays a vital role in maintaining good health in human populations around the globe." Carbon Dioxide, the Staff of Life. "I went to the trouble of adding up all the greenhouse gases, as provided in Gregg Easterbrook's excellent book, A Moment on the Earth, and then converted the total volume to a linear scale. That's so you can get a better sense of mankind's total annual contribution. That is, I wondered if there were one mile of greenhouse gas, how much of that would be the result of all of man's doing. I found that out of 5,280 feet, mankind contributes five-eighths of an inch." New findings indicate today's greenhouse gas levels are not unusual. The most accurate way to determine the atmosphere's average CO2 content is to simply conduct a direct chemical analysis at many different places and times. Fortunately, there are more than 90,000 direct measurements by chemical methods between 1857 and 1957. However, in what appears to be a case of 'cherry-picking' data to fit a pre-determined conclusion, only the lower level CO2 data were included when the pre-industrial average was calculated (see below graph where data used in the averaging is highlighted).  Greenhouse Policy Without Regrets: A Free-Market Approach. Because man's effect on his climate is not yet known, global warming policy should, first of all, do no harm. Elimination of wasteful and waste-promoting government policies can still make greenhouse reduction easier in the long term. States Sue Federal Government Over "Global Warming". Seven states announced on Thursday [2/20/2003] their intention to sue the federal government over the issue of "global warming." The states are seeking to force the Bush administration to regulate power plant emissions containing carbon dioxide, which they maintain is contributing to a buildup of greenhouse gases and the warming of the planet. Global Warming Feedback Loop Caused by Methane, Scientists Say. In the ongoing debate over global warming, climatologists usually peg carbon dioxide as the most dangerous of the atmosphere's heat-trapping gases. But methane, a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide, might be even more problematic. Methane levels no longer rising, say scientists. Levels of an important greenhouse gas have stopped growing, say U.S. scientists. Methane levels have stayed nearly flat for the past seven years, following a rise during the two previous decades, according to researchers at the University of California, Irvine. Figures reveal Europe falling far short of climate targets. The European Union, self-styled global champion in the battle against climate change, is falling woefully short of its targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions and will need to take radical measures to achieve them, new projections have shown. Climate Change Lemmings Jump Off The Cliff. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is making his own global warming treaties nowadays. He and Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair have agreed to set up a scheme modeled on the United Nations' Kyoto Protocol to reduce climate warming carbon dioxide emissions. California to cap greenhouse gas emissions. California would become the first state to impose a cap on all greenhouse gas emissions, including those from industrial plants, under a landmark deal reached Wednesday [8/30/2006] by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative Democrats. Bill may stir California business exodus. A measure to limit greenhouse gas emissions in California could foster fresh interest among California companies looking outside the state for a less regulated business environment. The cap, designed to cut greenhouse gas output 25 percent by 2020, evoked stern responses from business advocates such as the California Chamber of Commerce, which said in a statement that the act would drive companies and jobs out of California and jack up power and fuel prices for residents of the Golden State. Calif. sues 6 carmakers over greenhouse gases. California filed suit against Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp., Toyota Motor Corp. and three other carmakers on Wednesday, charging that greenhouse gases from their vehicles have cost the state millions of dollars. The Proper Roles of Reason and Religion in Developing Policies Related to Anthropogenic CO2 Emissions: Global climate change may well be (1) no problem at all, (2) a problem not caused by man, (3) a beneficial phenomenon, or (4) something about which nothing can be done, which could well make extreme – but largely ineffective – ameliorative actions counterproductive to the common good. Boulder, Colorado Sues Federal Agencies Over Global Warming: The Boulder, Colo. City Council will join environmental activists in taking legal action against the federal government to try to control greenhouse gas emissions which environmentalists say is the cause of "global warming." Another Global Warming Horror Story Bites the Dust: New evidence from the carbon sequestration front turns an old gloom-and-doom hypothesis on its head. Rather than adding to the atmosphere's burden of carbon dioxide, warming of earth's permafrost regions would likely end up removing carbon from the air, which would tend to stabilize surface air temperatures and not push them higher. California Votes to Join the Third World. In what could prove a disastrous move for consumers and businesses, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is poised to sign legislation imposing statutory limits on greenhouse gas emissions in the state of California. EPA unveils first rules on carbon dioxide storage. In its first regulations on the burial of carbon dioxide underground, the EPA on Tuesday [7/15/2008] unveiled measures to protect drinking water from the gas behind the bubbles in carbonated beverages. The fledgling technology, known as carbon sequestration, is critical to reducing carbon dioxide released into the air from coal-fired power plants, one of the country's largest sources of the greenhouse gas. It's the cows! That section has been moved here. Back to the Environmental Issues Page Back to the The Global Warming Page Jump to Greenhouse Gases — Water Vapor and Carbon Dioxide Back to the Home page 
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Document location http://www.akdart.com/warming2.html Updated May 21, 2012. Entire contents Copyright 2013 by Andrew K. Dart |