So late in January, Al Gore spoke before the Foreign Relations Committee on global warming. Why to the Foreign Relations Committee? Good question. Environment and Public Works would make more sense you might think, but you have to think a bit more politically and less logically. Richard Lugar is the ranking Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee. And he believes in anthropogenic (man made) global warming. On Environment and Public Works the ranking Republican is James Inhofe, a man that has been a thorn in Al Gore's side for years. So Al goes to speak with friends, instead of someone that may ask him a difficult question.
Now for some excerpts of what the silly man (Gore) said. Gore tries to scare us (again) by going into detail regarding the amount of CO2 in our atmosphere, and then comparing it to Venus. Well, I am no scientist but his statement is plain silly by any method of logic. Here is a quote from Gore:
"The difference is that the average annual temperature on earth is 59 degrees and on Venus it's 855 degrees and it rains sulfuric acid, not the kind of weather forecast you would like to wake up to. Not because Venus is closer to the sun, it's three times hotter than Mercury that is next to the sun. It is the CO2 and this illustrates why it is a problem to follow a global strategy to pull out as much carbon out of the atmosphere as quickly as possible and burning it in ways that leave it in the atmosphere."
Ok, so here goes some basic logic for you. Yes, Venus is hotter. Part of the reason is that it is closer. Part of the reason is the CO2. But here are some CO2 facts for you. 965,000 parts per million of the Venusian atmosphere is CO2. If that percent occurred here on Earth, it would certainly be very hot. But the percent on Earth? Oh, about 380 parts per million. That works out to be .038%. That is the number that he is concerned about. Because before the Industrial Revolution the number was about 280 parts per million. So for our planet to be as warm as Venus we only have 964,620 parts per million to go! Obviously we are not going to get there anytime soon. Or ever, to be perfectly honest. Besides, if it is gases that sequester solar energy and create the greenhouse effect, water vapor is more common (about 8000 parts per million) and acts similarly to co2 as far as warming is concerned.
To finish, look closely at the picture I put on of Gore in his office. Notice the three computer screens that are on, as well as the TV. Very energy efficient. Don't worry though, the carbon has been sequestered.
In the atmosphere.
I think you misunderstand his logic...
ReplyDeleteMercury is closer to the sun than Venus, so why is Venus hotter? Because Venus has more CO2.
He's making the point that CO2 can significantly affect the temperature of a planet. He's not saying that Earth will end up like Venus.
But I'll refrain from calling you silly. :)
Al Gore's Theory of Global Warming is just silly period.
ReplyDeleteLoren,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment, but I have to stick with what I said. I believe that I understand his logic, but vociferously disagree with it.
What Gore said was that Venus is hotter than Earth and NONE of it is related to its distance to the sun. That is flat out wrong. Distance to the sun is part of the heating equation. If distance was not a factor then how about former planet Pluto and its satellite/sibling Charon? Distance plays a factor and to ignore that is sloppy and dishonest.
As to the CO2, Gore again tries to scare people with the idea that if we keep adding CO2 to the atmosphere, we could end up like Venus. He does not state we would be like Venus, but uses the comparison more for psychological reasons than political. My point was that is a poor illustration, since the main greenhouse gas in our atmosphere is water vapor, not CO2, and the increase in CO2 compared to the rest of the atmosphere is very slight. Water vapor varies from 8,000 to 40,000 parts per million. Natural variance of water vapor exceeds the slight amount of CO2 increase (100 parts per million increase).
Later in his speech, Gore comments that "If we continued at today's levels, some scientists have said, it can be an increase of up to 11 degrees Fahrenheit." Instead of sticking to solid science, he cherry picks scientists to bolster his argument and uses scare tactics to influence politicians.
Gore did not say here Earth would end up like Venus. He did use it as a "frightening" comparison for a reason and insinuated we could be there.
Not to mention Al Gore drives a Hummer, flys in jets, and a whole pile of other UNenvirnmently friendly activities. Lets face it, Al gets rich off of global warming fears. If you examine his life, you will see he is as hypocritical as they come. Then you have natures effect on the atmosphere. Volcanoes dump LOTS of CO2 into the atmosphere. Far more than we humans do. It always amazes me how all of natures activities are "natural" while us humans are "unnatural". Even though those same people believe we humans "naturally evolved" into what we are.
ReplyDelete