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Originally Posted by Biochemist
The critique of the fact base for CO2-caused warming is not right-wing conservatives.
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Not entirely, no, but take a look at
Senator Inhofe. Typically, and very generally speaking, liberal Democrats tend to favor climate initiatives whereas conservative Republicans do not.
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The core critique is (I think) that the correlation between CO2 change and climate change is weak.
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How so?
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It looks like (based on current data) that the correlation between solar activity and temperature change is stronger.
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There is no doubt that the sun is the major driver of temperature change on Earth. These cycles are well known and are accounted for in climate models. Discounting CO2's contributions, on this premise, paints an incomplete picture.
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Ergo, the argument is not whether CO2 is rising (it is) or whether we have warmed between 1960 and 1990 (we did), this issue is causality.
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If you mean causality as I think you mean it (increased CO2 has resulted in the warming from 1960 to 1990), then you are correct. We can not say with any certainty that CO2 alone is responsible for the recent warming. What is compelling is that this trend is seen in ice core samples all around the world. We also know that CO2 reacts differently to light depending on the frequency. In other words, it permits UV rays, but traps IR. So it's not really as far fetched as some would have you believe to correlate increased CO2 levels with increased warming.
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And I think that improved data capture is further weakening the CO2 causality argument.
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What data are you referring to?
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I have wagered several scotch bottles (with several different folks) that we will be worrying more about global cooling than global warming by 2020.
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I think we're already worried about global cooling as in "How do we cool this thing down?".
Personally, I'd rather just see us stop mucking about with the atmosphere so we can stop the blame game and just focus on the science while Earth does its thing. As far as action on climate change, we should prepare for it regardless because it *will* happen eventually if history is to be trusted.
