PJ Media

@119

Noah,

You cite a study of historical data to refute decades of data collected and analyzed globally that shows a clear and steady increase in CO2. I am not impressed. Figures from 1800 have little bearing on the 650,000 year time scale at issue here. There is no doubt expressed regarding the modern rise in CO2 levels, and the human component of a cause is not in question here. There is great modern data on the subject.

http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/

http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/co2_data_mlo.html

You can find a lot of very well documented evidence that there is a steady and accelerating rise in CO2 levels that coincides with human activities that generate the gas. If you have evidence to suggest a different source for the huge amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere, something not related to human activity, please share. There are certainly CO2 sources that are not caused by man, but it is quite clear that human fossil fuel usage contributes massive amounts of CO2 (and many other pollutants) into the atmosphere.

There is also a wealth of data from ice cores that helps us to see the historical trend over hundreds of thousands of years.

http://www.daviesand.com/Choices/Precautionary_Planning/New_Data/

If you take a look at the graph, it is clear at first glance that CO2 levels that may have been naturally reaching a peak have been pushed far outside the most recent range of oscillation. This is a very clear record of the impact of human activity. The methane figures tend to get less press, but are similarly alarming.

You can pick and choose evidence to support any position, of course, but the best scientific data available, not to mention common sense, indicate that polluting the atmosphere on a massive scale is a Bad Thing™

Peace.

DS