Most environmentalists and sympathetic politicians want you to believe that carbon dioxide (CO2) is a “dirty,” dangerous air pollutant and human emissions of it must be reduced by any means possible if the world is to survive. This claim ignores the fact that CO2 is a natural but very minor constituent of the atmosphere that is indispensable to life on Earth and has been at far higher levels during most of Earth’s history. Their main claim is that unless human CO2 emissions are controlled, catastrophic anthropogenic global warming (CAGW) will result. These claims have led the world to spend what some have estimated to be an astounding $1.5 trillion dollars per year for this purpose.
But there is no scientifically valid evidence that CAGW will occur regardless of what is done or not done, and considerable evidence that higher atmospheric levels of CO2 and slightly higher global temperatures would be beneficial, not harmful. Surely plants and probably humans would be better off with higher atmospheric CO2 levels, not lower levels.
Human Adaptability Is Increasing, So Moderate Climate Change Is Not a Major Problem
Humans have succeeded in large part because they are highly adaptable, and are not limited to small ecological niches subject to minor climatic variations. Native groups have lived in the extreme north since the last ice age by praying primarily on sea mammals and building protection from the elements by adapting to the local conditions.
Human adaptability has been rapidly increasing thanks to access to fossil fuel energy and technological progress. Modern humans now winter over in Antarctica and are found in every latitude in between these extremes. They also have shown a strong preference for warmer temperatures, as illustrated by the voluntary movements by retirees to the south and southwest of the US. Plants and animals can also gradually change their range to adapt to changing climate. It takes longer, but has been going on for many millions of years.
What we need to fear is not gradual warming but descent into a new ice age, which is historically about due, and would bring huge suffering for humans and most other living things. So we should welcome gradual warming and fear large decreases in global temperatures. But the environmental movement and their political sympathizers instead want to spend even more resources on a hopeless and pointless effort to decrease human-caused CO2 emissions. So they have gotten just about everything wrong scientifically, and are now trying to use government law enforcement authority to prosecute those who do not agree with their ridiculous “science.”