Global Warming Warning Gore Redux

Al Gore is at it again. According to the "Aspen Daily News" in an article published today titled Gore: human species in a race for its life we have less than 10 years to act. By act Mr. Gore wants us and other developed countries to reduce carbon emissions by 90% while a 50% decrease is the goal for the rest of the world. For that to happen,

... Gore said -- changes that will take major leaps of political will far beyond what current politicians see as feasible. That reduction, which would be mandated by a world-wide treaty, could happen through carbon taxes, cap and trade, technological innovations, and energy conservation and efficiency... [Emphasis Mine]

That's going to leave a mark and it's gonna hurt. Notice especially the Mandated World-Wide Treaty (Kyoto Protocol?), and Carbon Taxes, Cap, etc. which will be enforced by whom? If you expect the United Nations to be able to do enforcement, get real. The UN is composed of countries like Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Venezuela, Mexico and other countries whose Economies are dependent on Oil and Fossil Fuels to survive. It is unrealistic to expect enforcement of any such world-wide treaty, and especially by the Corrupt UN.

Then there is the extreme cost and drastic Life-Style changes we all would have to make to achieve just a fractional reduction in Carbon Emissions. As I pointed out in an earlier post, (The Cost of Global Warming Action), the "National Review Online" contained an article (Economics in Reverse) which highlighted this point.

In order to decrease carbon emissions by 33 percent, we would have to remove every existing car and truck from the road (yes, that includes your hybrid), ground every airplane, and shut down every gas station in the United States. In order to bump up from there to a 73-percent decrease in emissions, we would have to shut down most of our electrical grid, with the exception of areas supplied only by nuclear plants, windmills, and dams.

We simply cannot afford to make these kind of drastic life-style changes for something that we are not sure is necessary. We're not sure these costly changes are warranted because the Scientific Community will not concur with Mr. Gore's "It is Settled" screed. There just is not enough Scientific Research Data to make the kind of hysterical claims Gore makes. See my previous post (Another Look at Al Gore's Global Warming) for a good argument against Al Gore's "Settled" claim.

Now let's go back to the original "Aspen Daily News" article for this.

"There's an African proverb that says, 'If you want to go quick, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.' We have to go far quickly," former Vice President Al Gore told a packed, rapt house at the Benedict Music Tent Wednesday.

OK, I don't disagree with that proverb, but what about this one: "If you don't care where you're going, you can't get lost." I don't remember who first said that, but I know we do care where we go on Global Warming. For that we need a map. And a large number of Scientists still do not believe the necessary Research Data exists to make an accurate map. We can't draw the map because there is insufficient data to prove that Global Climate change is beyond the range of Natural Cycles of the Earth. After all, the Earth has been at least 5° warmer than it is today.

Let's remember that Former Vice President Al Gore is talking about reducing carbon emissions, mostly in the form of Carbon Dioxide (CO₂). It is true that atmospheric CO₂ has increased during the last one hundred and fifty years. And it is true that the most likely explanation for the increase is burning of Wood and Fossil Fuels by man. But as Tom Harris back in 2006 wrote in The gods are laughing and was used as part of this post (Gore's - It's CO2).

In fact, the correlation between CO2 and temperature that Gore speaks about so confidently is simply non-existent over all meaningful time scales. U of O [University of Ottawa] climate researcher Professor Jan Veizer demonstrated that, over geologic time, the two are not linked at all. Over the intermediate time scales Gore focuses on, the ice cores show that CO2 increases don't precede, and therefore don't cause, warming. Rather, they follow temperature rise -- by as much as 800 years. Even in the past century, the correlation is poor; the planet actually cooled between 1940 and 1980, when human emissions of CO2 were rising at the fastest rate in our history.

As the preceding quote makes clear, Carbon Dioxide is more of an indicator than a cause of Global Warming. Moreover, there are other facts must be included for any rational discussion of Carbon Emissions and their effect on Global Warming.

1. Total Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide is less than 1% (between 0.04% and 0.80% depending on who's measurement you like.
2. One half or more of atmospheric CO₂ is caused by nature (volcanoes for instance).
3. Water Vapor (H₂O) is 95% of the Earth's Greenhouse Gasses.
4. Water Vapor is self-regulating. The more H₂O in the atmosphere, the more clouds. Clouds reflect the Sun's warming energy, which results in Cooling.

Put all this together and it is clear. We cannot make the Life-Style changes Mr. Gore hypes. We cannot afford the expense of drastic action. We need more Research Data. We have more Time.