By Kirk Myers
Climate experts, politicians, environmentalists and assorted green organizations have been beating the daylight
out of CO2 for decades, charging it with a litany of crimes against Mother Earth - heating the atmosphere, melting ice caps,
raising sea levels, acidifying oceans, driving polar bears to extinction and generally making a mess of things on the planet.
As the hobgoblin of the green movement, CO2 has taken it on the atmospheric chin.
But what if CO2 had its own atmospheric lobby and could fight back? Perhaps we might see a story like this one in the news.
ORLANDO, Fla. - Faced with growing criticism, the CO2-molecule lobby said today that it will no longer take the heat for earth's climate change, and has launched a campaign to restore its blackened reputation.
"It's time to clear the air about the benefits of CO2," announced chairman Nate Carbo at today's Alliance of CO2 Molecules (ACO2M) tropospheric conference held high above Walt Disney Resort. "CO2 molecules have been the climate fall guy for years. We've been unfairly charged with crimes against humanity. Now we're going to fight back with all our molecular energy."
Chairman Carbo said ACO2M's executive panel has drawn up a list of grievances that it will send this week to CO2 critics at the White House, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), EPA, Climate Research Unit (CRU), NASA, Goddard Institute of Space Studies (GISS) and major environmental organizations. A copy of the preliminary draft, received earlier today, makes the following 10 demands:
1. Stop calling CO2 molecules a pollutant - Plants depend on CO2, and they've been CO2-undernourished since the Jurassic period (an era plants refer to as "photosynthesis heaven") when our molecular presence was nearly five times higher than current levels. Not surprisingly, the CO2-famished plants of today are green with envy. (Note: The world's plant life is solidly behind our organization in backing this demand. They've given ACO2M the power of attorney to represent all earth vegetation in a lawsuit against Carol Browner and the scientists at the EPA, which recently declared CO2 a pollutant.)
2. Tell Michael Mann to shut up - There is no hockey stick-shaped warming in the atmosphere (in fact, the earth is cooling now), and if there was, it wouldn't be CO2's fault. Why don't you blame the sun for a change? We CO2 molecules have been around this earth long enough to remember the gloriously comfortable days of the Roman Warm Era and Medieval Warm Period - a time when there were no cars, factories and power plants. Back then, humans were growing vineyards in England and raising crops in Greenland. Now their descendants want a one-way ticket to the beaches in Rio. We don't deserve credit or blame for climate change.
3. End discrimination - CO2 is the whipping boy for every major climate disaster. We get blamed when it's hot and screamed at when it's cold. But the big yellow ball in the sky never takes the heat. Why? We CO2 molecules get our hind atoms scorched every time the sun spews another sunspot or solar flare. But, oh no, it's always CO2 gas that gets fingered for imaginary global warming. Please look at the blast furnace overhead for a change.
4. Quit passing the buck - Frankly, we CO2 molecules feel betrayed. Not all of us emanate from cars, factories and burning wood piles. Many of us are sent on our tropospheric journey when humans breathe. Humans are breathing CO2 factories, but you never want to acknowledge your gaseous contribution. So if you're truly serious about reducing the percentage of CO2 molecules, stop breathing and talking. (We've discovered, by the way, that CO2 emissions - and our molecular numbers - rise dramatically whenever Chicken Little eco-dummies like Al Gore take the microphone.)
5. Apologize to trees and other vegetation - Most of you spend lots of time and money tending your garden, caring for plants, trimming trees and manicuring your lawn. Your yard is a source of pride, and you brag about it to neighbors. So why in Heaven do you want to reduce its precious CO2 supply - nature's sustenance? Shame on you! If you discover a brown patch in your St. Augustine tomorrow, consider it payback.
6. Urge Al Gore to take an oath of silence - The former VP is a charlatan and disgrace. All his flashy multimedia presentations cast us as some sort of global warming satan. But our molecular membership has never been responsible for rising temperatures. Look carefully at CO2 and temperature charts. When you superimpose them, you'll find CO2 shuffling along hundreds of years after temperatures have risen. No wonder the enemies of CO2 show the charts separately. Telling the truth is just too inconvenient. (Note: Some of our normally friendly gas molecules want to lock Gore in a greenhouse for 30 days. But we warned them it might trigger a plant protest.)
7. Stop ignoring water vapor - We hate to rain on your parade, but water vapor is by far the most abundant greenhouse gas. Yet it rarely gets mentioned in all the sky-is-falling rhetoric about global warming. At slightly less than four percent, CO2 is the small fry on the greenhouse-gas scale, along with methane, nitrous oxide, ozone and a few other trace gases. The big Kahuna, water vapor, is responsible for 95 percent of the greenhouse effect, and keeps your climate cozy and warm. Without its insulating effects, life on earth would be unbearably cold. We'd like to see you try to ban water vapor!
8. Stop fudging data - We've had to watch from afar as Professor Phil Jones, Dr. Michael Mann and other so-called climate scientists have manipulated temperature data to make CO2 look like the most harmful molecule on the planet. After reading a few of their CRU e-mails, we now know that they've warmed the earth more with their cooked research and phony models then we could ever do as a lowly CO2 gas. They've done a great disservice to plant life on earth with their incessant attacks on a blameless group of molecules whose atmospheric presence is a piddly 385 parts per million. If these hucksters truly desire redemption, they should shut up about climate change and exhale frequently for the good of the redwoods.
9. Protect earth's food supply - When it comes to sustaining life, we CO2 molecules are high on the list of essential gases. If you succeed in carrying out your CO2 ethnic cleansing plan, you'll hurt all vegetation. (Trees and plants don't react well when deprived of their favorite atmospheric meal.) A CO2-depleted world will stunt plant growth, reduce crop yields and lead to famine and starvation. You want that on your tree-hugging green conscience?
10. Listen to honest scientists - Most of the climate experts predicting greenhouse doom are either on the government payroll, knee-deep in research grants or supplying the scientific rationale behind legislation designed to extort money from consumers in the form of carbon taxes. They have a vested interest in scaring the bejeebers out of people about the wickedness of the CO2 molecule - one of the most good-natured elements in the atmosphere. Their gloomy forecasts and high drama are full of hot air - pure junk science. They should be out on the street looking for work instead of receiving awards and more grant money.
The CO2 Alliance's list of demands is not open to negotiation, said Greta Carbo, president of the League of Carbon Dioxide, a CO2-friendly lobby group with close ties to AC20M. In her opening speech last night, she called the anti-CO2 movement "dangerously extreme" and "a threat to all life on earth." She said her group expects a White House response to its demands by early next week.
"We've stood by for decades while pseudo-scientists, self-serving politicians and the hysterical green movement bad-mouthed earth-friendly CO2 molecules for simply floating around and minding their own business. We're tired of the fright-mongering. It's time to set the record straight."
ACO2M's executive panel also announced today that it has scheduled talks next week with the Organization for the Protection of Plant Life on Earth (OPPLE) to discuss ways to counter the eco-alarmists' anti-CO2 message and educate humans about the many benefits of carbon dioxide.
"This is serious business. We need to expose the lies, hysterics and rigged climate models driving the greenhouse scare campaign. Humans need to hear the truth about CO2. Their lives, and their children's lives, depend on it," Carbo said.
Kirk Myers' Examiner column appears several times weekly. To receive alerts when a new article is published, click on the "subscribe" button at the top of the page. Upcoming topics: the carbon-credit game, melting ice caps/sea ice, and climate change disinformation. For a comprehensive look at global warming, including research and video presentations, please see the links on the right.
Myers can be reached via Twitter: @MyersKL.
Kirk Myers
Environmental News Columnist
Examiner.com
Web: http://www.examiner.com/x-32936-Seminole-County-Environmental-News-Examiner
Email: myers2@earthlink.net
Twitter: @MyersKL