what do you think about this comment i saw someone post. your opinion, true or false?

Question

"CO2 can only have a *limited* amount of effect on the atmosphere before reaching an equilibrium (this is the equivalent of the salination of water - water can only absorb so much salt before the rest just sinks to the bottom). That means that it doesn't matter how much CO2 we pump, once you reach equilibrium you can't do more damage with CO2 alone.

To the one who mentioned dogs: Methane emissions by cattle release more greenhouse gas every year than cars, boats, SUVs and whatnot combined. If there weren't people, there'd be more other animals all producing greenhouse gasses.

Did you know the temperature on Mars is increasing at a rate faster than earth? There are no people there, there are no SUVs, there are other factors contributing here. Other planets in the solar system are warming as well - some at rates faster than earth some slower. Unless GM started producing SUVs on Mars as well, then there's something else at play."

Answer 1

The first statement is false. Just look at the historical atmospheric CO2 concentrations and global temperatures. Both were much higher in the (distant) past. See the third section here:

http://mysite.verizon.net/mhieb/WVFossils/Carboniferous_climate.html

The second statement is completely false. Not counting things like land use changes, livestock account for 5% of worldwide anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Transportation accounts for 13.5%.

http://cait.wri.org/figures.php?page=World-FlowChart&view=100

The third statement may have some truth to it.

"Global warming could be heating Mars four times faster than Earth due to a mutually reinforcing interplay of wind-swept dust and changes in reflected heat from the Sun, according to a study released Wednesday."

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070404203258.5klhwqs4&show_article=1

But it's irrelevant. For one thing only about half of the planets in our solar system are warming, and others are cooling. If global warming were due to the Sun, then every planet should be warming.

On top of that, scientists have examined solar output and found that it's decreased slightly over the past 30 years, as global warming has accelerated rapidly.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6290228.stm

Answer 2

Man made global warming is a hoax.
Termites produce 20 million ton of mathane a year. But wait!! Isn't this global warming thing about how co2 is going to kill us in ten years (8 now).
Your right! There is a agenda here with Al & Co.
Mans input of co2 is aprox. .12 of the total co2 in the atmosphere. Hardly enough to cause catastropic changes in the environment.
The environment is changing on alot of planets also.The bottom line is: nobody can figure out what really is causing the climate of earth to change like it has throughout civilazation so certain people say "it must be man".

But if you notice, it's always the US, because of our spoiled way of life, our SUV's, our wanting things we never had before.

Why does every generation in the US have better than the last?

There are people with agendas that want to to stop this or think they can fleece the US in the name of global warming.

For example, the UN.

Answer 3

The first paragraph sounds like nonsense, I expect better qualified people will confirm that.

Yes animals release methane, another good reason to go for a vegan diet, the otherbeing beef has 7 times the carbon footprint of beans. A 'natural' Earth without fertilisers would support far fewer animals of any description. and that doesn't even touch the relative carbon footprints of a horse and hummer, I don't know them.

Yes the temperatures on mars and pluto are increasing, there are other reasons for planets going through temperature fluctuations, we have had ice ages with 'natural' causes ourselves after all. If it was the Sun behind these three planets warming, what about the other planets in our solar system, why are they not effected?

"false" is hardly the right word.

Answer 4

The behaviour of CO2 in the atmosphere and it's role in connection with global warming is effectively governed by the law of diminishing returns. Basically, for each one unit increase in the amount of CO2 there is a progressively smaller increase in heat retention. The point of equilibrium is a long way off and the atmosphere would become unbreathable long before it were reached.

The long term historical average of atmospheric CO2 is arounf 240 parts per million by volume, double it and temps increase by 1.5°C, quadruple it and they go up by approx 5°C. At present it's up 60% on the long term average and increasing by a further 1% each year.

I was reserarching methane emissions by cattle earlier on today after someone requested some info. A cow reared in a barn produces 542 litres of methane a day, in a field it's 600 litres. Methane has a mass of 0.717kg/m³, taking the higher figure that's 157kg per year. There are 1.3 billion head of cattle on the planet so the total methane production is 204 million tons per year. Methane is 23 times as potent as carbon dioxide (specifically it has a 100 year GWP of 23), the total carbon equivalance of all cattle burps and farts is 4.7 billion tons of CO2 per year, this compares to the 2006 human carbon equivalence emissions of 40 billion tons.

Mars is probably warming in part (no-one can say for certain). The south polar ice cap is expanding but at the same time the north polar ice cap is contracting. We don't have the instruments in place to know quite what is happening.

Other planets and their moons also show signs of warming but most don't or they show signs of cooling. Every planet and moon is unique, the warming we know of elsewhere in the solar system is occurring due to circumstances particular to that solar body - duststorms, seasons, quadrupling of atmopsheric pressure etc.

There is no constant across the solar system, if there were then every planet and moon would be warming proportional to that being experienced on Earth.

With no solar constant the Sun can be eleiminated. Further, total solar irradiance has fallen slightly in recent decades. If the Sun were responsible for all warming and cooling then the entire solar system should now be cooling.

Answer 5

The analogy between a gas in the atmosphere and a solid in water seems odd and spurious. All animals produce "greenhouse gas" and Mars may well be warming. When our sun goes supernova in a couple of billion years our solar system will disappear, so for those who are concerned about humanities long-term prospects- better get working on those spaceships now.

Answer 6

I am getting tired of people talking about how much methane cattle produce, as if cattle just pop into existence and start generating methane. A cow goes from about 30 pounds to a thousand pounds in a little over a year, by eating an average of 15 pounds of dry grass per day (hay). That's 5475 pounds of hay per year per cow, that hay mostly comes from sequestering CO2 directly from the atmosphere. There is roughly 1.5 billion cattle in the world grown primarily from CO2 in the atmosphere. They are entitled to release a little methane.

Answer 7

Yes, CO2 has less effect after a certain point. The problem is we're nowhere near that point. If we get there, the damage from coastal flooding and to agriculture will be enormous.

It does mean we're not all going to die. But if we do nothing, life will be hard.

Mars is increasing for other reasons, NASA says likely due to massive dust storms unique to Mars.

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/research/2007/marswarming.html

Most of the planets aren't warming, so it's not the Sun (and it's not the Sun for many other reasons also). More here:

http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/climate-change/dn11642

Great website for more scientific information about global warming:

http://profend.com/global-warming/

Answer 8

it's humbug.
co2 is heavier than oxygen and the satiation point will
not be reached until all oxygen was pushed spacewards.

Answer 9

If you are talking about the amount of infrared energy it can absorb, then yes, it will have a limited effect. You will quickly reach the point where all of the IR is being absorbed by a given amount of greenhouse gases - adding more gas will not increase absorption.