Originally posted by Nilsen
So what you are saying is that nature was in balance until we provided the extra 3,4 percent. I can buy that
I think the point was to put things in perspective; i.e.
"Over long periods of time, there is no close relationship between CO2 levels and temperature."
"Humans contribute approximately 3.4 percent of annual CO2 levels" compared to 96.6 percent by nature.
"There was an explosion of life forms 550 million years ago (Cambrian Period) when CO2 levels were 18 times higher than today. During the Jurassic Period, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, CO2 levels were as much as nine times higher than today."
In other words, our contribution to total CO2 emmisions is but a fraction of the total, that life has flourished on earth when levels were much higher, because, "Over long periods of time, there is no close relationship between CO2 levels and temperature."
Granted, I'm not sure what they mean by "no close relationship". The ice core samples do in fact show a correlation between CO2 levels and temperatures, it's just backwards from what AlGore claims. The data shows that CO2 levels
lag temperature changes by some 800 years, not the other way around. So rising CO2 levels can't be driving temperature increases. That is the real inconvenient truth! It has also been noted that effectiveness of CO2 as a greenhouse gas declines exponentially as concentration goes up. In other words, the higher the concentration, the less heat it traps, until you (rather quickly) reach a point that no amount of extra CO2 will cause any appreciable "greenhouse" warming.