Has co2 been scientically been proven to cause global warming?

Question

Has co2 been scientically been proven to cause global warming?

Answer 1

Very difficult as the CO2 is not there. The plants need CO2 as much as U need oxygen. None of the figures take into consideration what the plants do. Another thing is the normal oxygen level is 20.9% and it has not changed. If there was a problem U would see the oxygen level drop. If it gets below 19.5 U will pass out . Change the 380 ppm into percent and it will be .000,380 % which is nothing. To affect us it will need to be greater than .1%.

Answer 2

Nothing can ever be "proven" by science.  There is no "proof" that gravity is real.  There is no "proof" that the earth is round.  There's just a lot of evidence, so at some point scientists start accepting it as fact.  

At this point, there is no serious doubt that CO2 causes global warming.

Answer 3

Absolutely not !!!!

Answer 4

It's not very simple physics-- that is the CORE of the issue. If it was simple physics, then minute increases or decreases in water vapor is where I would place my money. By the way I have NEVER sleep in a Holiday Inn Express-- however I have sleep in over 40 foreign countries from Russia-- to Tonga.....

http://www.geocraft.com/WVFossils/greenh...

http://nov55.com/gbwm.html

http://www.weatherquestions.com/Roy-Spen...

Edit-- sorry BOB I will put up three more links to offset his link.--- however I believe he actually does have more "scientific" qualifications than say Al Gore-- or Barbara Boxer.

OK-- another EDIT for BOB-- that is the problem; water vapor's complex atmospheric properties cannot be properly programmed into a computer -- we just don't understand exactly how it works on a global basis..... AND Bob if you can come to a FINAL decision after reading these about exactly how everything works in the atmosphere with our greatest GW ingredient-- water vapor-- you are a much better man than me............

http://www.espere.net/Unitedkingdom/wate...

http://www.junkscience.com/Greenhouse/

http://www.koshlandscience.org/exhibitgc...

Answer 5

If CO2 has been 'proven' to cause global warming, why has there been no temperature increase since 1998?  The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere has not changed, but the earth stopped it's warming trend of .6 of 1 degree over the past 100 years.  If carbon was causing it, we wouldn't have seen this halt in warming.  So the answer is no.

Answer 6

WOW, this is a pretty controversial issue..... the truth is, it's a theory not a "law" :) Like we learned in Science classes when we were young :) I must agree with it though, all of the emissions come from our cars, appliances, coal burning, etc.  You definitely need to make a difference with it, the fact is, we as humans are causing global warming, so DO something about it, air up your tires, get some good light bulbs, and bike and walk more than you drive!  Good Luck!

Answer 7

it is only a theory. But a theory that has alot of support as inconclusive it is.

Answer 8

No, not at all, C02 is a pretty weak greenhouse gas, everybody knows that the global temperature hasn't risen since 1998, but the levels of C02 have, that in itself to me proves there is no correlation between C02 and temperature rise.

Answer 9

Sure.  

It MUST cause warming, it's very simple physics.  CO2 is transparent to visible light, but blocks some frequencies of infrared light ("heat").

Even the very few scientific skeptics don't dispute that.  They just say it won't be as bad as the vast majority of scientists think.

But many studies prove CO2 is the main cause of the recent warming.  Here's just one good one:

Meehl, G.A., W.M. Washington, C.A. Ammann, J.M. Arblaster, T.M.L. Wigleym and C. Tebaldi (2004). "Combinations of Natural and Anthropogenic Forcings in Twentieth-Century Climate". Journal of Climate 17: 3721-3727

summarized at:

http://www.globalwarmingart.com/wiki/Ima...

EVERY major scientific organization has issued an official statement that this is real, and mostly caused by us.  The National Academy of Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Institute of Physics, the American Chemical Society, the American Geophysical Union, the American Meteorological Association, etc.

EDIT - Water vapor is closely controlled by its' solubility in air.  So it can't be the cause of the present warming (although it is a "positive feedback", since warmer air can hold more, which will make things worse).  CO2 essentially has NO solubility limit.  More details here:

http://environment.newscientist.com/chan...

EDIT 2 - BOATMAN1 - Good lord, you're quoting THIS GUY?

"In graduate school, I studied yeast physiology and stumbled onto the basic control mechanisms for mushroom formation. But I was forced into seclusion by mental pain, so I moved onto the previously vacated family farm and did mushroom research. "

EDIT 3 - Quoting a former tobacco lobbyist (the aptly named "junkscience" site), is almost as unscientific.  And the water vapor argument is debunked above, and also by the Koshland site, if you read it carefully.  A hobby in Astronomy surely would bring one into contact with real scientists, and a conversation with them would be illuminating.

Please show me where I've quoted Gore or Boxer with regard to science.

Answer 10

someone else said:

"Nearly proven, but not *actually* proven."

What does this mean? No it hasn't.

Scientifically, CO2 is a GHG. Can increased CO2 cause warming? Yes. Can it cause a lot of warming? No physical evidence has shown that CO2 is the major driver of this recent warming. Has CO2 played a part? Likely.

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Edit:

Bob said

"But many studies prove CO2 is the main cause of the recent warming. Here's just one good one:"

Once again, CO2 cannot be "proven" to be the main cause of the recent warming, but even if it could, the study you post wouldn't be proof.

Meehl et al use models to see which forcing correlates best with the temperature record. Not exactly "proof", or even quality evidence.

Answer 11

Only by people who;

slept in a Holiday Inn Express last night,

desperately want to be important,

are dependent upon the Government for research grants or,

are heavily invested in Carbon Credit scams

Answer 12

If the question is, has it been proven that man's contribution to CO2 concentrations has caused recent warming, then the answer is no.  The recent warming was probably going to happen anyway due to natural cycles. If your question is "is man's contribution of CO2 in the atmosphere adding to warming?", then the answer is certainly yes, albeit it is probably not significant or necessarily harmful overall.

Answer 13

Nearly proven, but not *actually* proven.  Of the three possibilities (causes global warming / no effect / causes global cooling), at this point that is by far the the most probable.

I believe it is the second-most influential greenhouse gas in our atmosphere.  But it is nowhere close -- I'm talking WAY OFF -- to the being the first.  The first would be water vapor.

Water vapor and carbon dioxide (and any other triatomic molecule) have the same effect on global warming.  And there is WAY more water vapor in our atmosphere than carbon dioxide.

***************

And I AGREE with the comment about carbon credit scams.  Within the next few hundred years, every bit of fossil fuel that can be recovered will be recovered, and the bulk of it will be used as fuel.  It is nearly ALL going into the atmosphere.  At their very best, Carbon Credit scams will slow it down *slightly* and make a few rich people even richer.

Answer 14

Look at Venus.  It's hotter than Mercury.

Answer 15

Nothing in science is every fully proven, as all science is tentative and subject to change if new evidence becomes available.  Proof is more of a mathematical term than a scientific one.

But, if by "proven" you are using that term more in the sense of a courtroom than a mathematic proof, then the answer would be guilty as charged.  In this context, evidence is presented, cross examination occurs and the jury/judge makes a decision.  Majority verdicts are proof beyond reasonable doubt and that's the situation we have with co2 causing global warming.

Here's the indisputable facts:

1) CO2 is a greenhouse gas

2) Greenhouse gases prevent some of the longwave energy emitted from the surface from escaping back into space (AKA traps heat).

3) Without greenhouse gases in our atmosphere our planet would be about 33 C cooler

4) Atmospheric CO2 levels are rising

5) Human activity is causing that increase

6) A higher concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere will trap more heat energy than a lower concentration

What's disputable is:

1) How much warming a doubling of atmospheric CO2 will cause.  I've seen estimates from seemingly credible scientists ranging from 0.5 - 10 C.  The consensus position (i.e. most knowledgeable climate scientists agree) is that it will be in the range of 1.4 - 4 C.  Here's an interesting page that shows various estimates throughout the past 100 years:

http://members.aol.com/bpl1960/ClimateSe...

2) How quickly or how much the Greenland and Antarctica glaciers may melt.

3) The effect on tropical storms.

Answer 16

Yes, there is no question of the ability of CO2 to absorb long wave radiation in the scientific community.  CO2 very efficiently absorbs the wave length of energy given off by the Earth (near infrared and infrared radiation).  This has been known since the 1800s and makes the Earth very comfortable for life as we know it.  This is very basic physics.

Before the industrial revolution, natural cycles (orbital factors, solar cycles, volcanic eruptions) primarily control the climate and the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere was a factor of the decay rate of organic material.  CO2 increase as temperature increased (lagged).

However, since the industrial revolution, fossil fuels have been a major factor contributing to the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere.  We emit billions of tons of CO2 that was once sequestered out of the carbon cycle as fossil fuels per year. Now CO2 is is building in the atmosphere from these activities faster than it is from natural decay.  The physics of CO2 absorbing long wave radiation results in a warming of the atmosphere.  CO2 now leads warming instead of lagging.   We have now observed a 0.7 C increase globally since the start of the industrial revolution about 100 years ago.  Although this sounds small, it represent a large and fast change for the Earth's ecosystems - the systems that control the welfare of the human species on this planet.

Here is an easy to read reference from a very reliable source (The National Academy of Sciences).  Page 10 has the basic information you are looking for if you don't want to read all 28 pages.

http://dels.nas.edu/dels/rpt_briefs/clim...

This one is much more detailed and more difficult reading, but great if you can understand it.

http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report...