What do you know about carbon dioxide in the atmosphere?

Every day we hear about the dangers of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. But most people spreading the scares do not know or do not tell how significant this gas is in the atmosphere.

Here is a 6 question quiz. Take the quiz and see how well you compare to sampling carried out by Gregg Thompson.

Those who do not know the answers to these questions should not be voicing opinions on the role of carbon dioxide in affecting earth’s temperature.

Get informed, and then inform others.

The questions are here: http://carbon-sense.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/co2-information.pdf [PDF, 73 KB]

Flood plains are for floods and the banks of the Bremer and Brisbane Rivers are no exception. Nor is the big flood of 2011 a record in river level, duration or damage.

The grand-daddy for water levels was 1841, but the year that takes the prize as the worst flood in the Brisbane/Bremer Rivers must surely be the four floods of 1893.

See: http://carbon-sense.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/brisbane-floods-of-1893.pdf [PDF, 108KB]

I keep hearing about the “pollutant CO2,” or about “poisoning the atmosphere” with CO2, or about minimizing our “carbon footprint.” This brings to mind another Orwellian pronouncement that is worth pondering: “But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.”

CO2 is not a pollutant and it is not a poison and we should not corrupt the English language by depriving “pollutant” and “poison” of their original meaning.

Our exhaled breath contains about 4% CO2. That is 40,000 parts per million, or about 100 times the current atmospheric concentration. CO2 is absolutely essential for life on earth. Commercial greenhouse operators often use CO2 as a fertilizer to improve the health and growth rate of their plants. Plants, and our own primate ancestors evolved when the levels of atmospheric CO2 were about 1000 ppm, a level that we will probably not reach by burning fossil fuels, and far above our current level of about 380 ppm. We try to keep CO2 levels in our US Navy submarines no higher than 8,000 parts per million, about 20 times current atmospheric levels. Few adverse effects are observed at even higher levels.

By William Happer, Cyrus Fogg Brackett Professor of Physics, Princeton University

An extract from his submission to U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

To read the full submissions see:
http://carbon-sense.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/happer-testimony.pdf [PDF, 61 KB]

A bit of Brisbane’s flood history:

Source and references: http://www.bom.gov.au/hydro/flood/qld/fld_history/brisbane_history.shtml

More history:

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/infographics/qld-floods/peaks.htm

Definitely, particularly considering the very bad Queensland floods in the early 1930s and extreme floods of the late 1800s, the weather is definitely improving.

Our world is certainly changing; Antarctica, once a thriving forest is now a desolate ice land; the Adelaide hills, once a glacial wilderness is now a verdant scrub land; the Simpson Desert, once a forest of Acacia Peuce is now a glorious Aussie desert.

It is indisputable that the climate has changed endlessly through the millennia. The percentage of oxygen in the atmosphere needed to support life as we know it did not exist until the development of cyanobacteria and stromatolites between 2,300 million and 500 million years. Remnant living stromatolites in fact still exist in Shark Bay, Western Australia.

Only a religiously carbon-obsessed fanatic could seriously attribute those cyclic ice age-temperate climate changes to carbon dioxide. (Carbon dioxide is a colourless gas consisting of one atom of carbon with two atoms of oxygen).

Oxygen didn’t exist in a life supporting percentage of the earth’s atmosphere until the Earth’s developmental cycle referred to above.

Regards,

Nick Byrne
Alice Springs Australia

Unsustainable cow manure
By Paul Driessen 21 Sep 2010

From http://townhall.com/columnists/PaulDriessen/2010/09/21/unsustainable_cow_manure/page/full/

Seek a sustainable future! Wind, solar and biofuels will ensure an eco-friendly, climate-protecting, planet-saving, sustainable inheritance for our children. Or so we are told by activists and politicians intent on enacting new renewable energy standards, mandates and subsidies during a lame duck session.

It may be useful to address some basic issues, before going further down the road to Renewable Utopia.
(more…)

The Carbon Sense Coalition today accused Western Governments of massive waste of community savings on frivolous climate “research” and alternative energy toys while neglecting the infrastructure needed to maintain sustainable societies in the face of an unknown climate future.

The Chairman of Carbon Sense, Mr Viv Forbes, said that none of the massive government climate spending has produced anything of long term use to the people paying their bills.

More, including:

• Magnifying National Disasters
• Was 2010 the Warmest year Ever?
• Tax on Hot Air
• Pictures worth a Thousand Words
• Enquiry on Wind Farms
• Follow us on Twitter

in the PDF: http://carbon-sense.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/adapt-or-die.pdf [266 KB]

Just a few US government bodies plan to spend US$2,481,000,000 on “Climate Research” in 2011. Not on roads, not on bridges, not on snow ploughs – on Climate PR supporting the world effort to tax and ration our use of energy.

See: http://climatequotes.com/2011/01/08/how-can-climate-scientists-spend-so-much-money/

At least A$800,000,000 is being spent annually in Australia on “Climate Research”. Not on flood-proof roads, airports and bridges, not on water storage, not on emergency helicopters – just wasted on chasing the climate will-o-the-wisp.

See: http://carbon-sense.com/2010/02/16/green-jobs-galore/

And the UK government plans to spend one thousand million pounds on carbon capture and burial. Not on reliable low cost energy; not on snow-proof airports – just wasted trying to bury natural aerial plant food.

See: http://climateresearchnews.com/2010/10/uk-spending-cuts-undermined-by-1-billion-plan-to-capture-and-bury-the-beneficial-harmless-gas-co2/

Mr Steketee (Weekend Australian 8 Jan 2011) needs to tread carefully in the highly manipulated world of climate and weather statistics.

Quoting data from the UN World Meteorological Organisation is suspect because the WMO jointly created the IPCC, which is dedicated to proving that anthropogenic warming is happening regardless of evidence.

The British Met Office is in disarray for its conflicting and error-prone forecasts provided to the UK, while in New Zealand the national weather body abandoned their official temperature records because of manipulation of past data by the government agency. In Australia, the BOM is no different to many other data collection agencies around the world in selective manipulation of older raw data records downwards (i.e. cooler), thus making the overall trend appear warmer to the present. This effect is also achieved by closing of thousands of data stations around the world, most in the cooler regions, thus leading to a warming bias.

Recent high-quality ice core data from Greenland shows that of the past 10,500 years, 9,100 were warmer than 2010, with no relation to CO2, while the longest instrumental record in the world in central England shows that December 2010 was the second coldest December dating back to 1659. Australian raw data shows that we have warmed only 0.6^oC since 1910, and Mr Steketee needs to look at the less alarmist bigger picture and to be better informed about the work of experts such as Professor Bob Carter.

Geoff Derrick
Sherwood Qld Australia

Addendum: Lord Monckton’s rebuttal of Steketee: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/01/09/monckton-skewers-steketee/