Re-examining assumptions

By Lethbridge Herald Opinon on June 30, 2020.

Data shows CO2 increases aren’t all mankind’s doing

Cosmos Voutsinos

They say that every crisis has a “silver lining.” The silver lining of the pandemic we are just going through may reveal a significant message for humanity.

We have all just taken part in what is effectively the largest scientific experiment in humanity’s history – the temporary shutdown of the global economy. We grounded all those greenhouse gas-emitting airlines; we closed all those polluting factories; locked all our gas-guzzling vehicles in the garage, restricted our individual movement and activities … and so on.

We have done exactly what the UN and the climate alarmists have been demanding us to do and we did it for more than a quarter of a year. Humanity put industry and our way of life on PAUSE and in the process, we slashed our daily emissions of carbon dioxide for more than three months – for what? What was the impact, besides flattening the COVID curve?

On May 20, Bob Webber of the Canadian Press wrote in the Lethbridge Herald that “Greenhouse gas emissions (were) dropping”; however, this conclusion was based on the number of grounded flights re: information from the airlines, electricity generation not consumed from electric utilities and other guestimates on greenhouse gases not released. In all it was concluded that COVID-19 lockdown had reduced our worldwide greenhouse gas emissions by 17 per cent.

The implied conclusion here would mean a proof and confirmation of the alarmist’s unproven contention – that humanity’s CO2 emissions are significant enough to control the Earth’s thermostat – thereby justifying all their climate alarmism.

On the other hand, we must appreciate that so far, sciences have identified some 20 naturally occurring cyclical mechanisms that influence our Earth’s temperature. Most of these mechanisms are not included in IPCC’s models. In addition, the oceans and the land masses of the world exchange naturally with the atmosphere significantly more CO2 than humans emit. However, somehow the relatively small anthropogenic CO2 contribution has been thought to control the Earth’s thermostat. (https://www.drroyspencer.com/, Global Warming 101). The issue here is to decide the correct actions for humanity. Should this be “mitigation” or “adaptation?” Any error will be very costly. This is one of the major points of disagreement amongst professionals, and this is where the COVID-19 silver lining becomes relevant.

According to the world’s official CO2 measuring station located on top of Hawaii’s Mona Loa volcano, all measurements showed that CO2 kept increasing steadily this year to the end of May 2020 without the slightest decrease or change of pace. In other words, not only our 17 per cent CO2 savings, during social isolation, have most likely contributed nothing to improving our environment, but also, our atmosphere found enough CO2 from elsewhere to actually increase its CO2 content to 417.2 parts per million (ppm). This data point from Mona Loa has inflicted some serious damage on the widely held belief that increasing CO2 levels are man’s doing and man’s doing alone. This has happened before our very own eyes and warrants re-examination of the assumptions made in the sciences of IPCC’s computer models.

A group of 800 signitatories, most of them scientists under the name CLINTEL (Climate Inteligence Group), has called on UN’s Chief Guterres to “Halt Green Energy Push and Open Climate Debate.” Also, the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, the NOAA Earth Systems Research Laboratory and NASA have given indications that inspite of increasing CO2 we may be heading for a cooling climate period. This is based on the coinciding of natural cycles with the names: “Solar Cycle 25,” “400-year Sunspot observations,” “Pole shift” and the “Maunder Minimum temperature.” In North America and in Europe we have been experiencing a cooler spring this year and in Australia, South Africa and New Zealand they are experiencing their first Canadian-style winter in 80 years. Are all these localized weather or a climate pattern?

Stay tuned, and keep an open mind unpolluted by political agendas. It will not be fun shutting down our oil industry while heading towards cooler decades.

Cosmos Voutsinos is a Lethbridge-based professional engineer whose career included work ranging from system designs in the Canadian nuclear industry to construction management of U.S. power plants in Taiwan.