OPINION:
Most people I have talked to think that humankind’s contribution to atmospheric greenhouse gases is far greater than it actually is. The term “carbon pollution” is both unscientific and misleading. Carbon dioxide is not a pollutant of any type, dangerous or otherwise. When every animal on the planet exhales, the gas we expel into the atmosphere is carbon dioxide. Plants absorb it and use it in photosynthesis, which is the process by which they create food and oxygen.
Furthermore, contrary to assertions, carbon dioxide is not the control knob of the climate. The climate is affected by a number of factors, which still need much study. These include solar activity, volcanoes, wind oscillations, ocean cycles, the tilt of the Earth’s axis and land use. The greenhouse gases are only one tiny factor.
Greenhouse gases trap and maintain heat in the atmosphere. Without them, scientists tell us that worldwide temperatures would be about 57 degrees Fahrenheit colder, and life could not exist on Earth.
The most plentiful and potent greenhouse gas is water vapor, which constitutes 95% of all atmospheric greenhouse gases. The unjustly vilified carbon dioxide comes in a distant second, at 4.97%.
So let’s do the arithmetic: Humankind’s “contribution” to atmospheric greenhouse gases is between one tenth and a quarter one 1%. Our use of fossil fuels is not destroying Earth, and there is absolutely no need for the Biden administration’s war on fossil fuels.
THOMAS M. CRAWFORD
Laurel, Maryland
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