Quote:
Originally Posted by tuccillo
The only thing that is open to debate is the magnitude of the impact. To say that the increase in CO2 has had no impact is simply not correct. The physics are well understood. Think of it this way: there are longer term climatic trends (some are caused by changes in the earth's orbit). Increases in CO2 will cause a perturbations on those trends. The magnitude is what is open for debate. I personally don't buy into the doomsday scenarios but the increases in CO2 do have an impact.
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There probably is some impact from CO2, and there are other sources of CO2 besides the last 200 years of burning fossil fuels.
Given your degrees, you are already well aware that
1) CO2 is not the main greenhouse gas, water vapor is
2) We are, by definition, currently in an ice age for at least the last 3 1/2 million years, with periods of glaciation and interglacial thaws that have been running in cycles of about 60,000 years. That means about 50 glaciations , all of which humans or their ancestors survived
3) Earth is much cooler than say 80 million years ago. The main cooling factor is the rise of the Himalayan and Rocky Mountain plateaus, which act as a heat sink by removing water vapor from the atmosphere
So I agree with your assessment--no doomsday scenario. Unfortunately the political left has stirred up fear for economic and sociopolitical goals, and researchers who depend on grant money have , for the most part, towed the line.