The case for increasing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere

The past 70 years have been a golden time for the human race. It has grown exponentially in numbers and health. The primary source of food for us is vegetation. We are predominantly vegetarians. In order to sustain our increased numbers, we need abundant crop resources. The animals we consume are mostly herbivores as well.

Heat, water and carbon dioxide are what plants need in order to exist. There can be too little or too much of all of them, but plant life exists over a wide range of each of them. The basic equation on which all life on Earth depends is: carbon dioxide + water > glucose + oxygen in the presence of sunlight and chlorophyll. This reaction takes place in plant cells. The glucose is used by the plants and oxygen is used by humans and animals.

CARBON DIOXIDE AND GROWTH

It has been shown by photos taken from space that there has been greening of the Earth’s surface since the start of the space age. Therefore, the conditions on Earth currently seem good and getting better for growth of vegetation.

If the Industrial Revolution has had any effect at all on the Earth’s climate then it is one to celebrate and rejoice.

Research indicates that carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere continues to rise. It is currently at about 440ppm (parts per million carbon dioxide). To put this in proportion, every adult human breathes out about 45 000ppm with every exhalation. Submarines allow up to 6 000ppm carbon dioxide in their atmosphere before considering it too dangerous.

It has been shown by horticulturalists growing produce in glasshouses with an atmosphere of 600ppm to 800ppm that crop yields can be increased in comparison to crops grown in normal atmospheric conditions, currently about 440ppm. Therefore, there is still substantial opportunity for increased yield of crops should the parts per million continue to increase. The concentration in 1850 has been estimated at about 235ppm.

It has been estimated that up to 25% more food has been available in recent harvests thanks to the raised level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in comparison to the level of a century ago. The increased concentration of carbon dioxide is spread evenly around the planet and is the equivalent of a free fertiliser.

ATMOSPHERIC DISTURBANCES

A political agenda has been created in which it is held to be an inalienable truth that the warming of the Earth is also due to the increased concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide, and that storms, tornadoes, forest fires, floods and droughts are more violent because of these atmospheric disturbances.

The term political agenda is justified because no dissent from this dogma is allowed, in politics, in research facilities, in journalism or the classroom. Yet, the evidence is that none of these climatic events has increased due to global warming. The IPCC (International Panel on Climate Change) of the United Nations has published this data, along with data provided by other researchers.

The essential and self-evident point is that human, plant and animal life is thriving in present circumstances, with the increased atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide.

CARBON DIOXIDE AND HEAT

There are many distinguished climatologists, geologists, botanists and others who have provided evidence that carbon dioxide is not contributing significantly if at all to current global warming. However, the results of their research are being suppressed because of the current orthodoxy. Carbon dioxide is only about 10% of the greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. Water vapour provides about 90%. There are trace elements of other gases. Carbon dioxide exerts its heating effect by absorbing sunrays being reflected off the Earth’s surface. The molecules only absorb these rays in a narrow infrared wave band. All the infrared waves in this wave band have been absorbed so that even if more carbon dioxide is added to the atmosphere, they cannot absorb more infrared waves, and the additional molecules cannot exert any further warming. Put another way, carbon dioxide concentration could double to 880ppm with no discernible influence on global warming. (Purists point out that at the margins of the wave band there are further infrared waves that can be absorbed, but the theoretical

heat gain that can be calculated from these margins is so very small that it is completely subsumed by the massive effects of water vapour.)

ATMOSPHERIC CARBON DIOXIDE AND GLOBAL WARMING

There is a well-known graph that purports to show the global temperature from 1850 to the present day compared to the increase in carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. Both lines are shown to rise significantly and continually from about 1940 onwards. This graph has been used repeatedly to convince politicians and journalists that there is a direct connection between them.

The true facts are that while carbon dioxide concentrations have risen significantly and continually since the industrialisation of World War II, global temperatures have not. For over 30 years between 1940 and 1977, global temperatures fell so that towards the end of the 1970s, alarm was being expressed that the next Ice Age could be beginning. Time magazine ran an edition to this effect. Then, the following year global temperatures started to rise and continued to do so for 20 years until 1999. Then there came a period of over 15 years when there was no significant change in the global temperature. In about 2018, the global temperature again increased and is continuing to do so. Therefore, there is no association between the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide and global warming. The global temperature is about 1,7°C warmer than in 1850, but it has not been a consistent increase and its rate has been variable.

There have been other recognised periods of global warming in 6 000 years of civilisation, known as the Egyptian warm period, the Minoan warm period, the Roman warm period, and the Medieval warm period. These have been established from historical records and ice-core data. Clearly the four that have preceded our current one were not related to industrialisation or the use of fossil fuels. There is much speculation about the causes and it is reasonable to conclude that some or all of those causes are responsible for our current warming. Between the warm periods there have been centuries of cooling, particularly affecting harvests in the Northern Hemisphere, where historical records show dire effects. These periods of cooling are referred to as Little Ice Ages.

We need to be aware of the need for increasing carbon dioxide concentration during the current warm period to enable the world’s population to be fed, and we need to apply pressure on governments and energy companies not to promote alarm for political and commercial gain. – Dr Paul Stidolph, Hampton, UK

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS Up to 25% more food has been available in recent harvests thanks to the raised level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.