Dissenting Climate Change Opinions

Another thoughtful and well-expressed letter to the editor.
Morning Star newspaper, Wednesday, November 27th, 2019 by K. Jameson, of Vernon.


"This letter is in response to yet another round of Morning Star letters on climate change that say it's our fault, who is responsible (Boomers), and what we should do about it.  Oh yes, and also about Greta Thunbert (sigh).  It boggles the mind that society can even have this conversation.

We have 150 years of hard science that shows it is impossible for CO2 to create climate change.  We've known that for 150 years, ever since Melvill discovered absorption/emission spectrums back in 1752.

All this has been routinely taught in university science courses for a hundred years or more.

"...there is no mechanism for CO2 or H20

 to trap heat like a blanket around the Earth.

  It is impossible for them to store heat, period."

The main point is that all gases (like everything else in the universe) must absorb or emit head (radiation) to reach thermal equilibrium with everything around them.  Here's a simple and scientifically accurate example using coffee and your microwave.

Your coffee contains H20 water.  The cavity in your microwave is tuned like a radio to the rotational energy levels of H20 molecules.  That's so the microwaves can efficiently zap the H20 molecules and make them spin faster.  (Hotter molecules spin fast; colder molecules spin slower.  Frozen ice molecules spin even slower).

It's the same with CO2 molecules in the sky.  Zap them with some heat (radiation) from the Earth's surface or from the sun, and they start spinning faster.  

Out of the microwave, your coffee immediately starts cooling down (striving for thermal equilibrium with the air around it).  Ditto for CO2 (and for H20 water vapor, and for everything else in the universe).  Hot things cool down by radiating energy.  Cold things warm up to reach equilibrium.  The zapped, spinning CO2 molecule immediately tries to radiate the heat away so that it can go back to spinning at a normal speed.

Measurements show it takes about 75 feet of CO2 to completely absorb (block) radiation in their absorption bands that are incoming (from the sun) or outgoing (from the Earth).  Double the CO2 concentration, and it would take 12 metres or 30 feet instead.

I emphasize there is no mechanism for CO2 or H20 to trap heat like a blanket around the Earth.  It is impossible for them to store heat, period.  All they can do is temporarily block radiation in both directions and re-radiate it in both directions.

It is impossible for CO2 and H20 top trap heat and cause climate change.  Then, what does?  What's really happening with our climate?

So far, my impression is that students and people and politicians and newspapers would rather not learn about the simple truths about CO2 that I have tried to explain above.  I suppose they all have their reasons.

K. Jameson, Vernon"


Oh...so NASA could've provided an explanation, rather than just this graphic (click on graphic to enlarge):

The very interesting NASA blog is here.

A big thanks to K. Jameson, for his letter.