Certainly there are some “common folk” who don’t believe climate change is happening, as Todd Whitcombe claimed, but that isn’t the case for most of the non-believers. What they actually don’t believe is that human emissions are causing dangerous global warming.
Yes, climate is changing, it has always changed and always will. And yes, for nearly a century and a half, we’ve known that CO2 is a greenhouse gas. But for almost as long, we’ve known that, due to the logarithmic nature of the warming effect of CO2, it cannot cause dangerous warming.
The IPCC had to admit this fact, so the claim was changed to that of a feedback loop. For example, the very slight warming from increased CO2 results in increased water vapour (the Number 1 greenhouse gas) which raises temperature further. Well, we now have some data on that feedback – increased water vapour results in more cloud cover which increases the albedo (reflection of heat) resulting in a net cooling.
Yes, glaciers are retreating, and uncovering remnants of old growth forests both here and in Europe that carbon date to 7,000 years ago, well above today’s tree line. We also know that 7,000 years ago the Sahara was a lush and verdant expanse of marshes, lakes and rivers, teeming with wildlife and humans too. Obviously during the Holocene Climate Optimum (as it is known) climate was much warmer than now.
Humans always thrived during past cyclical warmings. There’s no reason to think we won’t now. The world has never been a better place for humans - life expectancy and income have been steadily rising. So has the population – we will need to feed up to 11 billion.
While the increased CO2 has little effect on temperature, it does have another very beneficial effect – the greening of the earth. The Global Vegetation Index surged 10% in 20 years. The Sahara Desert has shrunk by 8% over three decades.
Warming is good for us.
Art Betke
Prince George
