The Proof: Mankind’s Paltry Release of CO2 Will NOT Cause More Warming!

Herein, I would like to review a series of recent scientific articles and older information that definitively prove mankind’s paltry release of CO₂ to our atmosphere will NOT cause more planetary warming. In other words, we need to understand the misconceptions and lies told by our government and the climate frauds at the IPCC, NOAA, and NASA (and this list goes on and on), that we humans are causing our climate to warm dangerously, and our CO2 emissions are at fault.

How Much CO₂ Do We Humans Add to the Atmosphere?

First, in a statistic that will shock most people because they’ve had no reason not to believe the lie that mankind “pollutes” our atmosphere and warms our planet dangerously by adding massive quantities of CO₂, we need to know how much CO₂ we humans actually contribute to the global balance. The answer to this question is shown in the chart below:

In other words, of the estimated 780 gigatons of CO₂ generated on Earth annually, only a paltry 29 gigatons, or 3.6% of the total, are produced by mankind burning fossil fuels, including land use changes. Let me repeat this, we humans only contribute a vanishingly small 3.6% CO₂ to the environment, and I can assure you that if everyone knew this, they would never believe that we humans have anything to do with “climate change.”

But Manmade CO₂ Stays in the Atmosphere Forever, Say the Charlatans

So, as you can imagine, the paltry 3.6% consensus of total CO₂ added to the atmosphere each year by mankind has been a real problem for the climate change charlatans because that amount is so small, as stated above, no one could possibly believe it harms our planet. However, to get around this obvious problem, the serial liars at the IPCC and NOAA/NASA assure us that our (manmade) CO₂ stays in the atmosphere forever, whereas "natural" CO₂ does not. They do this to convince us that mankind’s CO₂ has a long-term (and dangerous) cumulative effect because it builds up endlessly. But what pure bunk, and what an outright lie!

This insane assertion would mean that the CO₂ from our burning of fossil fuels and wood products is somehow a different molecule than the CO₂ produced by wildfires, in other words, by exactly the same process. However, I can assure you that the CO₂ produced by us is exactly the same molecule as the CO₂ produced by trees, wildlife, and other natural processes.

To prove this assertion, a 2023 science article entitled “Net Isotopic Signature of Atmospheric CO2 Sources and Sinks: No Change since the Little Ice Age” referenced here evaluates the isotopic signature of CO₂ in the atmosphere and concludes that mankind has contributed only 4% of the grand total, an amount that is in agreement (within rounding error) with mankind’s minuscule 3.6% annual contribution. Therefore, of the ~137 ppm CO₂ added to the atmosphere since the start of the Industrial Revolution circa 200 years ago, we, mankind, have added only a beyond-paltry 5.5 ppm. What this means is that, of the 423 ppm CO₂ in our atmosphere presently, we humans only added 1.3%. Clearly, this also means that our (mankind's) CO₂ is just as ephemeral as “natural” CO₂, and both are equivalent molecules.

CO2 Residence Time in the Atmosphere

Also regarding the climate change charlatans (false) assertions that manmade CO₂ stays in the atmosphere essentially forever, if you look at the chart below, you will see 36 scientific studies that show CO₂ has a residence time averaging about 8 years in the atmosphere, whereas the climate charlatan liars at the IPCC insist that it lasts more than 100 years! And why do they do this? In other words, why do they ignore these studies and lie to us? The answer is simple: they must! Because if CO₂ does not last very long in our atmosphere, it would be very difficult to convince us that the CO₂ we humans produce is dangerous. After all, won't it be gone quickly? And they cannot have that!

But perhaps even more damning, a newer (2017) study entitled “Oxygen Isotope Anomaly in Tropospheric CO₂ and Implications for CO₂ Residence Time in the Atmosphere and Gross Primary Productivity” referenced here suggests even worse news for the IPCC charlatans. This study concludes that “Here, we analyze Δ¹⁷O data from four places (Taipei, Taiwan; South China Sea; La Jolla, United States; Jerusalem, Israel) in the northern hemisphere (with a total of 455 measurements) and find a rather narrow range (0.326 ± 0.005‰). A conservative estimate places a lower limit of 345 ± 70 PgC year⁻¹ on the cycling flux between the terrestrial biosphere and atmosphere and infers a residence time of CO₂ of 1.9 ± 0.3 years (upper limit) in the atmosphere.” Let me repeat this! This study suggests a maximum residence time for CO₂ of 1.9 years in the atmosphere! As a result, we must ask ourselves: Who cares how much CO₂ we produce? After all, it is gone in less than 2 years! As a result of especially this study, we can now state categorically and unequivocally that mankind’s vanishingly minor contribution of CO₂ does not cause appreciable levels of global warming, and the IPCC is lying when it insists that CO₂ lasts at least 100 years. Let me repeat this, our (mankind’s) tiny CO₂ contribution cannot cause appreciable warming because it simply does not stay in the atmosphere long enough to do anything, notwithstanding the other reasons presented in the following.

CO₂ Absorption Bands

We need to understand some very important facts regarding the CO₂ molecule, and that is its spectral or absorption bands. We need to understand this because these bands are what allow a molecule to be excited by photons from the sun and retain and release heat, or not (see explanation here).

In the chart below (from Wikipedia), you can see that in the UV and visible bands of solar radiation to Earth, which are what warms our planet, the CO₂ molecule has very narrow wavelengths (in gold color) in which it can absorb energy, meaning it is very inefficient at either retaining or transmitting heat.

But in comparison, look at the absorption bands for water (H₂O) shown in light blue in the same chart. Clearly, water molecules are much more efficient at retaining heat and warming our planet than CO₂ But even more interesting, notice in this chart that the small CO₂ absorption bands are obscured by water vapor. Thus, water vapor, which is much, much more abundant than CO₂, masks the limited ability of CO₂ to retain heat, meaning that CO₂ is a very inefficient “greenhouse gas.”

On the other hand, in the infrared spectrum, which is how our planet radiates heat to space, CO₂ exhibits a large energy band (see chart below). Thus, in the upper Stratosphere, which is very cold and where water vapor is absent, CO₂ disassociates from carbonic acid and exists as a gas that reflects heat. In other words, high levels of CO₂ in our upper atmosphere cause global cooling.

All of this means that, as a molecule in our lower atmosphere, CO₂ has a very limited ability to absorb or radiate heat, unlike H₂O, which absorbs and radiates significant heat, including as it transitions between its three phases, solid, liquid, and gas (for example, just think about how warm cloudy nights are compared to clear ones). In other words, unequivocally, it is water in our oceans and atmosphere that collects and retains heat and warms our planet, not CO₂. And whether or not that CO₂ is natural or manmade is also immaterial because neither has a measurable effect on planetary temperatures.

The Schwarzschild Equation and CO₂ Saturation

The Schwarzschild equation is not new; it first appeared in Karl Schwarzschild's 1906 paper “Ueber das Gleichgewicht der Sonnenatmosphäre (On the Equilibrium of the Solar Atmosphere).” Put simply, the Schwarzschild equation is “used to calculate radiative transfer (energy transfer via electromagnetic radiation) through a medium in local thermodynamic equilibrium that both absorbs and emits radiation.”

While NOAA and the IPPC claim that doubling CO₂ will produce 1.5 to 4.5 C additional warming, these numbers are dead wrong. What the Schwarzschild Equation regarding CO₂ shows (see below), is that doubling CO₂ from its current concentration of ~400 ppm to 800 ppm would reduce the radiation to space by a beyond-minimal 1%. In other words, this initial doubling might increase Earth's temperatures by a paltry 0.71 C but, after that, no additional warming would occur.

The Schwarzschild equation is further supported by the transmittance versus wavelength graph for CO₂ at 280 ppmv (red) and 560 ppmv (black) shown below. In other words, the static effect of doubling CO₂ is the minuscule difference between the two lines, meaning there is virtually no impact. And so, this graph also proves that adding more CO₂, whether it is natural or manmade, will have virtually no effect on global temperatures.

Also, and importantly, it has long been recognized (although this fact is completely ignored by the climate scam cult) that when CO₂ saturation is attained, which is at the current level of 400 ppm in our atmosphere, CO₂ ceases to be a greenhouse gas, and no further warming occurs. In other words, CO₂ is already nearly saturated with respect to its greenhouse gas effect.

To prove this further, a new (March 2024) scientific article entitled “Climatic Consequences of the Process of Saturation of Radiation Absorption in Gases” referenced here concludes "It should be noted that CO₂ absorption lines at different altitudes are narrower than CO₂ absorption lines under atmospheric pressure, and thus, it could be authoritatively stated that we are dealing with atmospheric saturation, and the additional CO₂ emitted into the atmosphere, regardless of its altitude, will not be a greenhouse gas."

This recent finding suggests that our atmosphere is already saturated with CO₂ with regards to its warming potential, and, thus, any additional CO₂ added, whether it be by us or by nature, will no longer function as a greenhouse gas, and no further warming will occur. To highlight and prove this further, see the chart below:

GWP or “Global Warming Potential”

In a duplicitous attempt to force certain molecules, namely CO₂, methane, and nitrous oxide to have large cumulative effects on global warming climate models, the climate charlatans in our government and the IPCC assign those molecules large GWPs or Global Warming Potentials.

First, to explain GWP, according to Wikipedia, referenced here:

“Global Warming Potential (GWP) is an index to measure how much infrared thermal radiation a greenhouse gas would absorb over a given time frame after it has been added to the atmosphere (or emitted to the atmosphere). The GWP makes different greenhouse gases comparable with regards to their "effectiveness in causing radiative forcing." It is expressed as a multiple of the radiation that would be absorbed by the same mass of added carbon dioxide (CO₂), which is taken as a reference gas. Therefore, the GWP has a value of 1 for CO₂. For other gases, it depends on how strongly the gas absorbs infrared thermal radiation, how quickly the gas leaves the atmosphere, and the time frame being considered.”

In other words, GWPs are assigned to “force” molecules to have large effects on warming our atmosphere in computer models. But the numbers these charlatans assign have been proven false.

According to the March 2024 scientific article entitled “View of Reliable Physics Demand Revision of the IPCC Global Warming Potentials” referenced here, "The Global  Warming Potentials (GWP) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) ...show the increase in warming by methane (CH₄) and nitrous oxide (N₂O) is 21 and 310 times respectively that of CO₂. There has been wide acceptance of these values since publishing in 2007. Nevertheless, they are inaccurate. This ... quantitative analysis from reliable physics shows the contribution of CO₂ to warming at Amsterdam is 0.0083 degrees C out of a difference of 26 degrees C. The warming effect of CH₄ on the Earth's atmosphere is 0.408% of that of CO₂, and the warming by N₂O is 0.085% of that of CO₂. Thus, the warming effects of CO₂,  CH₄, and N₂O are too small to measure."

In other words, this very recent study completely debunks the lie that CO₂, methane, and nitrous oxide have high GWP forcing values, meaning they will not cause more atmospheric warming, no matter how much is added to our atmosphere. Importantly, it also shows that our government’s mandate that we must burn urea (DEF) in our diesel engines to slow NOX emissions is entirely fabricated and unnecessary.

Another Categoric Lie: Very Little CO₂ is Actually Present in Our Atmosphere

As the final nail in this presentation’s sealing of the “climate change” coffin, our government and the IPCC also give us the false and intentionally misleading impression that CO₂ is ubiquitous in the atmosphere and, thus, that high levels of CO₂ are dangerous. But do you realize that CO₂ does not exist in any significant amount in the troposphere, which is our lower atmosphere? Instead, essentially all of the CO₂ generated at the surface of our planet quickly combines with water vapor to produce carbonic acid, a very weak acid that is essential for life. In fact, due to this combination, CO₂ is often referred to as the Gas of Life perhaps just as important or even more so than oxygen. Thus, very little CO₂ actually exists in our lower atmosphere; it is mostly benign carbonic acid, an essential ingredient for life. In the upper atmosphere, the stratosphere, where CO₂ does exist and water vapor does not, its molecular properties at those low temperatures radiate heat away from the Earth, thus causing global cooling, as already mentioned.

Summary and Conclusions

Based on unassailable scientific data, some of which is presented herein and much of it new in the last few years, including this year, I say to people here in America and around the world: You are being lied to! Not only is there no demonstrable evidence that our planet is warming dangerously or that we are the cause of it (as detailed in an earlier Essay in Truth entitled “Exposing the Left’s “Climate Change” Mega Lies” available here), but manmade CO₂ cannot cause catastrophic global warming, as proven herein! First, there is simply not enough of it, it only stays in the atmosphere for about 1.9 years, and at its present level of ~400 ppm, it is already saturated, meaning that from here forward it no longer acts as a greenhouse gas. Secondly, and very importantly, as a molecule, CO₂ has almost no ability to retain heat, and in the spectral bands where it does so, it is almost entirely masked by water vapor. As well, very little CO₂ actually exists in our lower atmosphere; it is mostly carbonic acid. Thus, this presentation proves without a doubt that CO₂ as a gas has almost nothing to do with atmospheric warming, and even more obviously, mankind’s release of CO₂ is so paltry as to be inconsequential. While all of these are undeniable facts many of us have known for years, the indoctrination and lies repeated by the “climate change” frauds have kept far too many of our fellow citizens from seeing the truth.

Let us also be very clear that none of what I present here is really new information, per se. For example, the Schwarzschild equation has been around since 1906. But more and more reputable new studies are being published almost daily that refute every lie uttered by the climate charlatans; those serial liars who populate our corrupt academic institutions, government, and the IPCC. In other words, those people were already aware of that contradictory data, both new and old, but they just lied to support their “climate change” hoax. And why do they sink so very low and continue to lie? It is because of greed: they make $millions/billions/trillions from these lies!

Folks, the data I present here is accurate and unbiased. It is the truth! Unfortunately, this truth is almost worse than if human-based climate change were real because we could do something about that. But when it comes to the outright tyranny, lying, and malice associated with this mega fraud of “climate change” caused by us, I am not sure that there is a cure.

The charlatans and frauds are lying to us so they can tax and control us even more, and, unfortunately, at least up until now with the advent of even more scientific studies that so effectively disprove their claims, their efforts are working.

The only thing I can do as a geologist/scientist is to present the truth in the hope that enough people will listen and, as a result, the foundations of this terrible climate change fraud will collapse. But I warn you, only then will we be safe because the people who support this mega hoax believe their own lies so completely that they plan terrible things for all of us! After all, they think that “climate change” is making us stupid, see below, which means that they can do anything to us, including getting rid of our life-saving energy, with catastrophic human results, and even blocking our sun.

However, in partial agreement with the above, I do think that the “climate change” cult has made some people very, very stupid (see image below)!

Remember that even the IPCC wasn’t always this corrupt; it was at least a semi-reputable organization until far-left radical politicians took the group over in 1995 and canceled every honest scientist. For example, compare the conclusions of the 1995 IPCC draft to the final report (see below), which was written/rewritten after those corrupt politicians took control.

But in the end, and as proven herein…

But don’t just sleep well! Drive your car or truck long distances, heat your home comfortably, eat lots of red meat, and exhale often without guilt because the CO₂ you (and cows) generate is good for our planet, and it will NOT harm the environment!!!

By Michael J. Broch

See the author’s 2024 book “Hypocrisy and Deceit - Exposing the Left’s Socialist Agenda of Deceptions and Lies that is Destroying America” available on Amazon here. You can also follow Mike on Truth Social @MJBroch, and Twitter @BrochMike.

Also, see his profile on GETTR here.