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So what do you think scientists got wrong? 1. That CO2 is not transparent to infrared light? 2. That CO2 is transparent to visible light? 3. That things heat
by tzs 3y ago
So what do you think scientists got wrong?
1. That CO2 is not transparent to infrared light?
2. That CO2 is transparent to visible light?
3. That things heated by visible light radiate much of that heat back as infrared light?
4. That CO2 levels in the atmosphere are rapidly rising?
5. That raising CO2 levels will cause warming (see #1, #2, #3)?
6. That there are different isotopes of carbon, with different half lives?
7. That living things regularly exchange carbon with atmospheric carbon?
8. That because of that exchange the isotope ratios in carbon from living things matches the atmosphere carbon isotope ratios?
9. That when living things die they stop breathing?
10. That because of #6-10 we can tell from isotope ratios how long ago something died?
11. That as the CO2 levels have risen dramatically over the last couple hundred years, the isotope ratios of atmospheric carbon have changed?
12. That from these ratios we can tell that most of the increase in CO2 comes from sources that have not been exchanging carbon with the atmosphere for a very long time?
13. That fossil fuels come from long dead things, and have isotope ratios that match whatever provided most of that increased atmospheric CO2?
14. That the amount of CO2 that we are putting in the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels matches up closely with the amount of extra carbon we know must have come from sources that have not exchanged carbon with the atmosphere for a long time?
15. That we have satellites that can measure incoming and outgoing radiation and see that we are out of equilibrium, by an amount that fits with the amount that we would expect from that extra CO2?
- wheelerof4te 3y agoIf the climate change is caused by humans, that is more likely due to deforestation and destruction to nature. CO2 is used by plants, and plants produce oxygen. If you kill more plants and build concrete cities over where they were...you could get your global warming.
- tzs 3y agoDeforestation and destruction of nature could change CO2 levels, but they don't change the isotope mix of the carbon in atmospheric CO2. We know the increase is mostly coming from something whose carbon has a different isotope mix.