Friday, June 2, 2017

Do you believe in Global Warming?

Or, "Does the president believe in global warming," a question fired during one of those interminable daily press conferences.  The poor press secretary who was serving as a target rightfully dodged the question. 
  Believe.  That's a word used in  religion.  Do you believe in God?  When the newsies start asking about belief, they become religious fanatics looking for heretics to burn at the stake.  The fanatics LIKE global warming, they are using it to scare people into giving them political power. 
   Global warming ought to be a scientific theory, an idea supported by observations or experiments.  About the only observation behind the global warmists is CO2 concentration in the atmosphere.  We have good observations that the CO2 concentration has increased from 300 and something parts-per-million to 400 parts-per-million in the last 50 years or so.  The earth gets heated on the sunside and cools itself by radiating infrared radiation on the night side.  To hold Earth's temperature steady, the heating and the cooling have to balance.  CO2 blocks infrared radiation which reduces the nighttime cooling.  This is the whole of the greenie global warming religion.  Of which they are demanding the president believe. 
   Counter observation.  Plain old water vapor, steam, humidity, clouds, is as strong an infrared blocker as CO2.  And there is about 1000 times as much water vapor in the air as the puny rise of CO2.  The CO2 rise is like 50 parts-per million, against a water vapor concentration of 50,000 parts-per-million.  Most experienced people don't think a change that small means anything in the real world.  Especially as all the computer models of global warming produce crazy results when asked to predict today's temperature based upon data from some starting point in the past. Incidentally,  on a planet two thirds covered with open water, there is going to be a lot of water vapor in the air, and there is nothing anyone can do about it.  
   And, if the world warms up, then the oceans will warm and more water will vaporize and make the air even moister than it is.  Which will increase the amount of cloud cover.  Everyone knows that daytime clouds cool the earth.  You can feel the chill when you are on a beach in a bathing suit and a cloud covers the sun.  Less well known is that night time clouds warm the earth, they block infrared radiation even better than CO2 or water vapor.  Clear winter nights are colder than overcast winter nights.  Which effect is stronger?  No one knows, or at least no one has published on this where I could see it. 
   Another observation.  World temperature has remained steady, no rise at all for the last 19 years. 
   So, scientifically speaking global warming is a maybe.  Might be happening, might not.  This isn't a matter of belief.  It's a matter of scientific observations and theory. 
   

2 comments:

DCE said...

"So, scientifically speaking global warming is a maybe. Might be happening, might not. This isn't a matter of belief. It's a matter of scientific observations and theory."

But that doesn't fit the narrative! The data doesn't match the models which is why we've had to work so hard to adjust the data! Don't you understand that we can't leave such an important issue up to the scientists, observations, and actual data? The models say we're all gonna DIE! We gotta DO SOMETHING!!! [/sarc]

Dstarr said...

Fitting the narrative ain't science. The greenies want a scientific blessing for their religious beliefs.