It’s been a while since GorT went on a climate change rant so I figured I’d fire one up today.  Maybe it’s because I was trolled on twitter with this Mother Jones graphic.  Or because I offered up the following question to a liberal, sky-is-falling-the-end-of-the-world-is-upon-us AGW believer:

Why does the IPCC and NOAA, etc. not account for water vapor in their models for climate change?

The response I got was a blank stare and some mumbling.  Then they said, “well, it’s natural, so it’s fine.”  Let’s consider that for a moment.  How well do you remember your physical or environmental sciences?  The earth’s atmosphere is 78% Nitrogen and 21% Oxygen.  The next largest component is water vapor (in varying percentages by region but averages around 2-3% – once it reaches local concentrations around 4% it starts condensing in the air).  Then you start getting into small amounts: Argon (0.9%) and  CO_{2 is somewhere around 0.038%.}There are three, so-called, greenhouse gases: CO₂, CH₄(Methane*) and H₂O (Water Vapor).  So of the 2-3% of the atmosphere that is a greenhouse gas of some sort, around 1.2-2% of that is CO_{2.  Of that amount, 3.4% is identified as being human-generated, which means 0.0000544% of the greenhouse gases are human-caused  CO2 and 0.00001088% of the atmosphere is human-caused  CO2.  One might think that we should do a little exploration into the effects water vapor has on the climate.}  

The problem is, the earth’s climate is an incredibly complex system with too many variables to enumerate.  GorT finds those that are convinced that (a) humans cause global climate change and (b) we should do something about it (largely in the context to reduce  CO_{2 and ostensibly lower the global temperature) are filled with hubris.  How do they know this?  How do they know that the earth isn’t continuing to come out of the last ice age and we should be trending warmer?}

The inconsistencies in the IPCC report (and others) are troubling to anyone trying to make an educated decision about climate change.  I will continue to advocate being a good steward of the earth and yes, we should be curbing various polluting emissions.  But we should do so smartly and with more open and transparent research into the climate and not the political knee-jerk reactions and pandering to fear that so often accompanies these discussions.

GorT

GorT is an eight-foot-tall robot from the 51ˢᵗ Century who routinely time-travels to steal expensive technology from the future and return it to the past for retroinvention. The profits from this pay all the Gormogons’ bills, including subsidizing this website. Some of the products he has introduced from the future include oven mitts, the Guinness widget, Oxy-Clean, and Dr. Pepper. Due to his immense cybernetic brain, GorT is able to produce a post in 0.023 seconds and research it in even less time. Only ’Puter spends less time on research. GorT speaks entirely in zeros and ones, but occasionally throws in a ڭ to annoy the Volgi. He is a massive proponent of science, technology, and energy development, and enjoys nothing more than taking the Czar’s more interesting scientific theories, going into the past, publishing them as his own, and then returning to take credit for them. He is the only Gormogon who is capable of doing math. Possessed of incredible strength, he understands the awesome responsibility that follows and only uses it to hurt people.