There are some important points to be made in the aftermath of this scandal and I must point out, if it matters, that I consider myself an environmentalist by practice not by preaching to others and I must say, “I told you so”.
Looking at this from a science point of view as I always have, it has been clear to me that those preaching the man-made causes of global warming have not only exaggerated their points and con-screwed data of good science but most important they ignored much other undisputed science data that was out there before this had become a issue in the early 90’s. Just after the time we were told we had been in a “mini ice age” in the 80’s and the culprit then was particulates in the air from man-made sources.
The biggest farce is/was that carbon dioxide was the major culprit to man-made global warming.
It was well known that the two most major causes of man-made global warming are deforestation and water vapor but mainly the water vapor. Yes, water vapor retains more of the suns infra-red energy (heat). If you don’t believe that and want proof you can see, just look at the temperature when there are no clouds at night. Watch your weekly weather forecast and its plain to see or look at infra-red satellite photos as I do as this is the only way to see clouds at night.
Now for the man-made portion of the water vapor comes from the same thing as the carbon dioxide that they had you in fear of did plus a few extra sources. You see whenever you burn a fossil fuel, you make water vapor and other by products depending on how efficient the burn is. If you have a high efficiency gas or propane furnace, you know there is a moisture collection unit for water that drops out of the burner . It does not matter if it is propane or gasoline or methane (natural gas) water vapor is a by-product and it is not normally visible.
Please read this wiki on water vapor and greenhouse gasses. And remember that power and chemical plants are the #1 man made producers of water vapor. This is more easily captured than carbon dioxide.
I can see how someone could make some assumptions about carbon dioxide levels rising but this has been caused by deforestation and actually lowering the level of oxygen in out air that our grand kids will surely notice before they die. Deforestation also allows for the the drying of soil and releasing more moisture to the air.
But now it makes me laugh when I think of all the times I was the odd man out when someone was blaming the last forest fire or hurricane on global warming. That is just a stretch of misrepresented science. these same folks have a hard time believing that I am a environmentalist by practice.
I have solar power and I don’t take the tax-credits for it. You may think that is dumb but there is a reason that I will post in the future on that. Soon I will have solar heating units to complement a small geothermal heat pump (something I designed in the late 70’s and early 80’s I am finally putting to task. I minimize my use of chemicals and find alternatives to them and I must say often the alternatives are better and cheaper. But you don’t think any of the chemical company’s are going to tell you about them do you. You must take a personal interest and want to do something for yourself to make your life better. I know at current trends that when I retire (maybe never) I want my living costs to be as low as they can be and as simple as it can be. That is a problem for many as when you hit that age, it is often too late to made changes and you will be owned by the oil company’s, utilities and banks till you die.
In all this issue over these years, I am reminded of history of when they were testing hydrogen bombs. Some alarmed it would burn the entire atmosphere of the earth up. And later found that even a atomic blast was a puny event by the vast size of our environment So I am “not” sounding the alarm bells like it is the end of the world but something to keep in mind because man does contribute but we really do not know by how much and how long it takes for the effects to show. Cautiously optimistic is how I see it.
OK so I am glad the crap hit the fan as they had seemed to be getting away with it all these years but what damage does this scandal do to those who might be true environmental folks like myself. I am afraid that all the true science will be ignored now those idiots have discredited all science. I am glad to see this come to light before we invested much of our GDP on it and missed the real target.