Climate

CO₂ (carbon dioxide)
& the Greenhouse Effect

Consider the following questions regarding “climate change,”:

Is climate change “real” or a hoax?
What factors affect temperature (in addition to CO₂)?
What causes climate change?
How does the “greenhouse effect” work?
Is carbon dioxide the primary greenhouse gas?
Are increases in CO₂ responsible for global temperature changes? Or are other factors at work?
Is CO₂ a pollutant, and should we try to eliminate it?
How much are humans responsible for CO₂ increases?
Can we predict future climate changes?
Is “climate change” producing more cases of “extreme weather” (more wildfires, flooding, etc.)?
Should we be abandoning fossil fuels and moving to more “sustainable” energy sources?
Is the IPCC a reliable source of science information on climate?
Is the science “settled”?
And more ...

The answers, according to Roger Palmer, P.Eng. (ret), may be downloaded as a PDF here.

Patrick Hunt, President of Climate Realists of British Columbia, asks those who believe in the theory that man-made CO₂ is the cause of global warming:

What scientific evidence do you rely on?
What Coefficient of Correlation between CO₂ and temperature do you use? Over what period of time?
What are the costs, and what are the benefits, of a world that has 800 ppm of CO₂ and is 2°C warmer than today? What is wrong with a warmer world with more plant food (CO₂ is a fertilizer) anyway?
Is it cheaper and more certain to adapt to climate change than to attempt to mitigate (prevent) climate change?
What if most countries do not honour their CO₂ reduction commitments (as the vast majority will not)? What then?
Are you personally willing to risk US$34,000 for every human being on earth over the next 26 years to test the anthropogenic global warming alarmists' hypothesis? I am NOT.

What could cause climate change if it is not CO₂?

Numerous scientists have identified the SUN as the main cause of climate change! For instance, the Milankovitch Cycles explain changes in the Earth's climate and surface temperature as the Earth's orbit cyclically changes the distance from the Sun and its axial tilt to the Sun. Milutin Milankovitch, a Serbian geologist and astronomer, also observed a 0.9 (90%) correlation between the number of sunspots and the temperature on Earth (more sunspots = more warming and vice-versa).

Other factors that affect the Earth's climate and surface temperature are:

variations in the Sun's luminosity and spectral distribution
variations in the Earth’s magnetic field
variations in cosmic rays
variations in cloud cover
variations in the Tropopause Inversion Layer
the amount of heat stored in, released from, or transported by the oceans and their currents
cyclical local changes in ocean currents (El Nino, La Nina, AMO, etc.)
the Earth's atmosphere itself, including changes in cloud cover
Volcano eruptions. (On January 15, 2022, the Hunga Tonga submerged eruption increased atmospheric water vapour, the major greenhouse gas, by approximately 13%).

The Sun causes climate change not only on Earth, but on other planets and moons in our solar system. Habibullo Abdussamatov has asserted that "parallel global warmings — observed simultaneously on Mars and on Earth — can only be a straight-line consequence of the effect of the one same factor: a long-time change in solar irradiance." Link to H.I. Abdussamatov, "The new Little Ice Age has started".

Original research by Tom Gallagher, a Canadian geoscientist, has found strong correlations between major temperature changes and continental drift, which has opened and shut gates such as the Bering Strait and Panama Isthmus, as well as the flow through the Mediterranean and the Arabian Gulf north of India, before India became attached to Asia. Gallagher also points to the role of the oceans as a store of 83% of the Earth's CO₂ and a store and transporter of energy over time and around the world.

From his research Gallagher concluded that "CO₂ and temperature proxies do not correlate in geologic climate data" and that over geological time there is a very weak, negative correlation between CO₂ and temperature - a slight inverse correlation. His video is available at: https://youtu.be/K6tWEjkEiZU.

To argue that CO₂ is the thermostat regulating the earth’s temperature, one must prove a positive correlation, and preferably a strong correlation, exists between CO₂ and temperature.

Climate 101

The text above was excerpted from
www.ClimateRealists.ca

Understanding Climate Change

In Roger Palmer's paper of June 17, 2025, titled Understanding Climate Change, his final words are as follows:

"Humans tend to abhor change. A lot of people like things "just the way they are now", and believe that the climate we have been enjoying for the past few decades is "perfect" for them. But it is the height of arrogance and selfishness to believe that present conditions are ideal for us, and that we have the ability to control the climate so that it stays this way! The best recommendation that can be given is that man must learn to adapt to the continually changing climate.

There are a large number of factors that affect the earth's climate. Many of these are poorly understood by man, and there are some factors that probably haven't even been discovered yet.

A number of conclusions can be taken away from the information presented so far in this document:

Climate change is a naturally-occurring, cyclic phenomena, and it has been going on for millions of years.
Climate change is primarily driven by changes in the energy of the sun that impinges on the earth. The dominant factors driving this are variations in the sun (total output power, spectral distribution, sunspot cycles) Milankovitch Cycles, variations in ocean currents (ENSO, PDO, and AMO). Other factors include the effect of varying cosmic particle influx and high altitude bacteria, causing changes in cloud cover.
The primary greenhouse gas is water vapour. The effect of atmospheric CO₂ on global temperature change is much less. Because of the non-linear effect of CO₂ concentration, increases beyond the current level will have a decreasing effect on the earth's climate. (it is sometimes stated that CO₂'s Greenhouse Effect is becoming "saturated")
Man-made CO₂ does have a minor effect on global temperature changes, but it is not the dominant factor. A reduction of man-made CO₂ emissions would have a negligible effect on global temperature.
Man's understanding of the various climate-influencing factors is very limited.
Climate models are not effective at forecasting future long-term global temperatures.
There is very little that mankind can do to affect global temperature change. It does not make sense to introduce regulations that will have a negative impact on Western economies in a pointless attempt to change the natural rate of global climate change.
Mankind will have to learn to adapt to future climate changes. If mankind is still around in a few thousand years, they will then have to adapt to global cooling and glaciations!

Any legislative efforts to limit man-made carbon dioxide emissions at the local, regional, provincial, or federal levels may be well-intended, but are ultimately futile, and potentially dangerous. These efforts will harm the economy, waste resources, and not significantly affect the naturally-occurring cyclic climatic changes."

Video
"What Percent of
our Atmosphere is CO₂?"
Doug LaMalfa Stumps entire Panel
with Climate Questions
Apr. 11, 2023

Video
Top Facts on
Climate Controversy
Sep. 6, 2023

Video
Carbon Capture
Is removing Carbon Dioxide
from our atmosphere
the right thing to do?
Aug. 28, 2025

"Dr. John Robson looks at the probable disastrous consequences if climate alarmists really did manage to lower atmospheric CO₂ as many say they want to."