r/climatechange • u/srmcmahon • 5d ago

"retired plant scientist" claim

This was in a letter to the editor locally:

"There is no real evidence that global warming is due to atmospheric CO2. Controlled experiments indicate that the addition of CO2 in air up to 10,000 ppm have little or no effect on warming under atmospheric conditions."

Entire letter is here: https://www.inforum.com/opinion/letters/letter-co2-and-global-warming

I was going to write a comment. I think he might be talking about experiments where they added CO2 to experimental plant plots (but don't remember the mechanics). "Under atmospheric conditions"--means exactly what?

Can you help me out here? I have not figured out how to phrase a search that brings me to what he is referring to.

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u/MKIncendio 4d ago

”There is no real evidence that global warming is due to atmospheric CO2.“

”Note the original experiments conducted 150-200 years ago were conducted in a vacuum. We do not live in a vacuum. Credible studies conducted at the turn of the present century indicate that 50% of the warming that we are seeing is due to the direct effects of terrestrial surface heating, due to human activity, (urban heat islands, deforestation and overgrazing). This is especially true in the tropical regions, the main heat reservoir for Earth.”

Gee I wonder what gets released when we do terrestrial activities and the consequence of said terrestrial activities in relation to this neat thing called the Sun, unless he took mom’s ramblings to heart when he kept leaving the window open during winter and heated up the damn neighborbood!

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u/srmcmahon 4d ago

I hadn't even caught that last sentence. Any heat reservoir in the tropics is probably the oceans, where there's no cattle grazing.

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u/MKIncendio 4d ago

I actually missed when he mentioned Deforestation as a contributor to said Terrestrial Activities. GEE WHILICKERS I WONDER WHAT GETS RELEASED WHEN PLANTS WITHHOLDING A PARTICULAR CHEMICAL TO GROW GETS CUT DOWN FOR RESOURCES lmao.

And yeah, vents and dikes helping to warm up oceans and tropics do contribute. Gee whilickers I wonder what said vents release in terms of gaseous product when also providing heat :333

I have no idea what that guy was trying to prove lol. For Grazing I’d bet more methane gets produced if they’re freeroaming and naturally eating stuff, but that’s such a moot talking point when the significance of CO2 is just that much greater than Methane/Sulphur Dioxide/Hydrocarbons such that it’s just not worth talking about when regarding climate change as a whole!