Why Half a Degree of Global Warming Matters
Understanding the Urgency of Rapid Global Climate Warming
Imagine you are on a ship headed for the beach in a dense fog. You are traveling at a high rate of speed. It will be bad to run aground. You hear a fog horn. You can tell there are lights on the beach ahead in the fog. You ought to slow down.
The water is becoming shallower as you approach the beach. If you throw the wheel over to turn away the ship may tip over! You need to slow down! Maybe throw the engine in reverse!! You should definitely stop accelerating!!!
Every fraction of a degree of rapid global climate warming is additional data about how fast the situation is becoming more dangerous. We don’t know when we run aground or if we hit sand or rocks, but that is definitely coming up in the near future. Maybe one year maybe a hundred. Soon.
Regional Perspectives on Temperature Changes
Where I live in SouthEast Colorado, it has only been about a 0.3 to 0.4°F increase in 130 years. Remember that begins were still coming out of the Little Ice Age (LIA). For me, with our constant temperature swings daily, a couple of degrees means 0 ZIP, NADA. Truthfully, a bit MORE warming would be great, especially now since we’ll be looking at below 0 numbers for highs. SOOOO WHERE IS ALL THIS SUPPOSED WARMING LOL?
That temperature is calculated from the depths of the LIA. It is NOT a good measure of a good temperature for humans or the biosphere. Another 2-3°C increase would be great, but we aren’t the drivers of temperature on the planet!! Our CO2 emissions are about 3% of the natural flux - 35 GT/year vs. 850 GT/year. CO2 is a small fraction of the Greenhouse Effect of the Earth, less than 5% because of the spectral properties of the CO2 molecule compared to H2O. H2O is a "bent floppy single-bond molecule" vs. a linear, non-floppy double-bonded CO2 molecule. Also, CO2’s concentration is much lower on average, wide range of H2O concentrations!!!, than H2O. Finally, the Greenhouse Effect is a small fraction of the temperature mechanism of the Earth. The majority of the temperature change is controlled by "adiabatic cooling," similar to the expansion of refrigerants in the back of your refrigerator. The surface of the planet is heated by the sun, lots of energy causing convection, look at those HUGE stratocumulus clouds, especially in the tropics!! As the air rises, it expands and cools, giving rise to the "lapse rate."
The Misconception Surrounding CO2 and Greenhouse Effect
Anyone walking up a mountain notices quickly that it is cooler at higher elevations, notice the snow at the top of mountains but not at their base. This is a consequence of convection and the cooling from expanding air. It is about -50°C at the typical cruising altitude of jet airliners, i.e., about 10–13 km high, even in the tropics. Again, this is a consequence of convection, not the Greenhouse Effect (GHE).
The main advantage of the narrative of the GHE is that EVERYONE produces CO2 and uses energy, meaning everyone can be taxed and influenced and controlled IF CO2 is the "bogeyman." It isn’t. CO2 is essential for life; anything less than 0.02% in the atmosphere would shut down open-air agriculture and starve all the humans on the planet. Currently, there is 0.041%, you breathe out 100 times that, i.e., 4.00%. That is why your plants like you to talk to them; you are feeding them. Do you suffocate your spouse or girl/boyfriend by kissing them? I hope not. Greenhouses use 3–5 times more CO2 than the ambient to greatly encourage plant growth. Even the small increase in CO2 in the last 100 years, mostly a natural change from 0.03 to 0.04%, has caused up to a 30-40% increase in plant leaf area in the driest areas of the Earth. WE NEED MORE CO2, NOT LESS!!!
Conclusion
You have been lied to. Think for yourself! Do not be Sheep! Humans and the rest of the biosphere are MUCH better off at higher temperatures and with more CO2!! A 1.5°C increase is NOT ENOUGH. We NEED MORE!! but we can’t do it. I wish we could. We are not as powerful as we think we are.
By taking a closer look at the reality of global warming and the misconceptions surrounding CO2 emissions and the Greenhouse Effect, we can make more informed decisions and better understand the urgency of the situation facing our planet. The more we know, the more we can do to ensure a sustainable future for generations to come.