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.
