Manager's Column

Authored by: Richard Fowler

When it comes to global warming, I agree with the deniers. Here’s why.

First of all, no denier I’ve studied denies that the burning of fossil fuels could cause a slight warming of the earth’s temperatures. They do deny the validity of the constant fear reports we hear. Of the 24 major climate models used to predict temperatures and promote global warming, all 24 have overstated temperature rise when compared to actual satellite temperatures – ALL 24! During the last 15 years, even with accelerated emissions, there has been little to no warming, and the models failed to predict that. So yes, the deniers deny that the fear reports on rising CO2 is valid.

Second of all, most deniers deny that CO2 is a pollutant. There are pollutants that come out of coal fired power plants. SOX, NOX, and Mercury are known air pollutants that our country has worked hard to clean up and has done a very good job taking the SOX, NOX, and Mercury out of the air. But carbon dioxide is not a pollutant. All living creatures, including humans exhale carbon dioxide. All plants take in carbon dioxide. There have been thousands of experiments in greenhouses where CO2 levels were increased from .04 to .07. Seventeen different studies showed that green beans increased 64% at these higher CO2 levels, in 162 studies soy beans increased 47%, in 33 studies potatoes increased 29%, in 20 studies corn increased 21%, in 5 studies carrots increased 77%, in 8 studies sweet cherries increased 60%, in 4 studies strawberries increased 42%, in 35 studies tomatoes increased 32%, in 214 studies wheat increased 33%, in 13 studies red maple trees increased 44%, in 5 studies cottonwood trees increased 124%, in 7 studies red oaks increased 53%, and on and on. Satellite photos clearly show that on the edges of the world’s deserts there is a greening of our planet and that means more food for a hungry world.

If I were to ask, “What percentage of our air is carbon dioxide?”, most people would say 40%, or 20%, or even 4%. But it’s less than 1%, less than 1/10 of one percent. It’s four one hundredths of 1%, that’s 400 ppm. OSHA considers anything under 5,000 ppm to be safe for underground miners. In
100 years CO2 has risen from 300 ppm to 400 ppm. The plants love it and gobble it up, so our earth has a way of regulating itself. Without CO2 the earth would be 59° colder and life would not exist. The benefits of CO2 are practically never mentioned. To ignore the fertilizer effect and to fail to include it when discussing the impact of CO2 is dishonest. It’s important that before spending billions on global warming fears, that we consider all positives and all negatives without prejudice. Let me repeat that. It’s important that before spending billions on global warming fears, that we consider all positives and all negatives without prejudice.

If our planet should warm a degree or two it might be a good thing. There’s a reason our seniors flock to Florida, Texas, and Arizona in the winter. It’s healthier for them. Our temperature has increased less than 1.5° in the last 100 years, which is an amount not perceived without instruments.

Some of the ideas for this series of articles comes from Alex Epstein’s book, The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels which should be required reading for every student interested in this subject. Next week, we’ll look at why the freedom to use fossil fuels is so important.