The war on carbon dioxide (“CO2”) continues with “millions” of children being recruited to allegedly “fight climate change”. Greta Thunberg appears to have been designated the leader of this children’s movement to prevent a “climate emergency” by emotionally appealing for the reduction of CO2 emissions.
Are these children aware that CO2 is as important as water, oxygen, and sunlight in sustaining life on the planet as a vital component of the carbon cycle? Probably not!
And it is extremely unlikely they know where this colorless, odorless gas is stored and how it greens the planet. CO2 is stored in the oceans (40,000 gigatonnes of contained carbon, “GtC”) with a small amount (2%) allowed to green the planet by leaking into and circulating through the atmosphere as a trace gas at 400 parts per million (“ppm”).
The ocean store of bio-available CO2 has never been as low as it is today, almost solely as a result of the ongoing, natural sequestration of CO2 to form carbonate sediments. Since the dinosaur era, the CO2 store has lost 160,000 GtC, thereby reducing the atmosphere’s CO2 content from 2,000 ppm to 400 ppm.
The planet will become a desert when the CO2 content of the atmosphere falls below 150 ppm. For optimum growth, greenhouse operators must raise the CO2 content to a level above 1,000 ppm.
Unfortunately, the atmosphere will remain CO2 starved even after the consumption of all known reserves of hydrocarbon fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. This consumption will add 10,000 GtC to the current store of 40,000 GtC; that is, it will increase the atmosphere’s CO2 content from 400 to 500 ppm.
Obviously, it is not only impossible to generate too much CO2, it is also impossible to generate sufficient CO2 to create a fertile atmosphere with a CO2 content greater than 1,000 ppm. Although the atmosphere will remain CO2 starved, such a partial replenishment of the store will materially extend the planet’s Green Period.
Contrary to the nonsensical, global-warming orthodoxy, our CO2 emissions do not give us the power to stabilize the planet’s ever-changing climate. However, a politically-mandated, carbon-free economy will certainly condemn us to the poverty and misery of a third-world country. Is this a politically intended consequence of the war on CO2?
In conclusion, we must treasure CO2 and allow our CO2 emissions to replenish the severely-depleted store of bio-available CO2. Any initiative to remove CO2 from the atmosphere should be viewed as an attempt to develop the ultimate weapon of mass destruction. A world without CO2 is a world without plant and animal life.
Furthermore, we must cherish our children and shield them from the fraudulent prophets of doom. I sincerely believe that climate fearmongering is a form of psychological child abuse contributing to childhood anxiety disorders, depression, and even increasing suicide rates.
Thorpe Watson, PhD
Warfield