Despite major political developments in Washington and Barcelona, something else managed to grab global headlines this week—a declaration of emergency because of the increase in carbon dioxide gas in the earth’s atmosphere.

Mainstream media had it on their first pages. “CO2 levels in the atmosphere hit a record high in 2016,” one news website said, sourcing data from a report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) that came out last week.

The news articles’ primary focus was around anthropogenic climate change, and they went on to state that this increase in CO2 level would worsen the climate. Therefore, it was more urgent than ever to reduce emissions from human activity.

In response to the report, WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said: “Without rapid cuts in CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions, we will be heading for dangerous temperature increases by the end of this century, well above the target set by the Paris climate change agreement.”

Prior to that, International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde, speaking in the Middle East last week, warned: “we will be toasted, roasted and grilled if the world fails to take critical decisions on climate change.”

They both cannot be farther from the truth. Their claims are not only blatantly false but also contrary to the string of undeniable evidence acknowledged by their own counterparts.

With advanced temperature measurement systems and more widespread data collection points, twenty-first-century climatologists estimate global temperature levels more accurately than ever before.

Temperature measurement from these thermometers, air-balloons, and satellites (three of the most dependable methods) indicated that temperatures did not rise significantly during the last 17 years, contradicting the more popular theme we hear in the news media. …

The rise in CO2 is only beneficial to humanity, not a curse. … [Read the rest.]

 

 

Featured image “Change in Leaf Area 1982–2015” by R. Myneni, NASA.