What's the big deal with CO2?

I love how people answer the question as if it's a proven fact when it's not. And their claim to CO2 causes warming is getting weaker and weaker as the global average temperature goes down while CO2 levels continue to increase.

I show them articles about the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (from their own beloved sites even) and they still hold onto the belief that CO2 causes warming. (This is stating that the Pacific Ocean is entering into a cool phase.)

We have also shown them articles about no sunspot activity in the month of August and the possibility of a new sunspot minimum occurring. (The last one during the Mini Ice Age we warmed up out of.) And still they believe CO2 causes warming.

Guess what? You need the sun and the oceans to be warm to get warming here on earth.

Bottom line I'm not panicking about the warming, I'm panicking that the warming trend could be over and we are about to move into another cooling trend.

I think that the panic is centred around what might yet happen if too much carbon gas enters the atmosphere, in combination with the related phenomena of deforestation and of carbon gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels for energy. When the ozone in the air, including the ozone layer, is exposed to carbon gas in the form of carbon monoxide in particular, the oxygen molecules of the ozone (O3) tend to combine with the carbon in the carbon monoxide (CO), thus reducing the amount of ozone in the atmosphere and creating a hole in the ozone layer.

When deforestation occurs due to forest fires, either deliberately set or accidental, the burning wood gives off too much carbon gas. When it is used for fuel the same effects are experienced. The carbon that the trees and plants store for food is wasted and burned into the atmosphere in excessive amounts. Over time, the damage can be incremental. Because deforestation is occurring at an increasing rate for reasons of industry, housing, settlement and agriculture, the forests are not being replaced as rapidly as they should be replenished.

Any substance that reaches higher than normal levels could become a pollutant the way plants growing out of control can become weeds. Normal amounts of carbon dioxide is given off through animal and plant respiration. However, sometimes the problem of deforestation and the potential hazards of carbon gas emissions seem to be viewed as the same problem. As far as the concentration of a substance is concerned, it is good to remember that we live in a fragile balance on this planet, and small fluctuations in one area can upset the entire balance, andd result in large scale consequences.

Anything which causes environmental problems is a pollutant and excess CO2 is causing environmental problems for us.

How can anyone claim that the extra CO2 we are emitting isn't a pollutant?

Besides, the man made part is already a pretty significant proportion of the CO2 in the atmosphere (and CO2 has a pretty major role to play in maintaining the temperature of our planet, denialist delusions aside).

As for why we're panicking, probably because we haven't actually gotten around to replacing coal for electricity production (and some countries are even switching from carbon-neutral sources of power to coal, e.g. Germany).

Let's rephrase your question slightly.

What's the big deal with arsenic?

Arsenic is not a pollutant, guys, so give it a rest already. Arsenic is plant food (yes, some plants eat arsenic). It is GOOD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT!! I know it's toxic to humans, but in this glass of water it is VERY minor. Only 0.01% of the molecules in the glass are arsenic. That is ONE-HUNDREDTH of a percent. That's less than one-third the percentage of CO2 in the atmosphere, and we all know how small that is! And then if you take the amount of arsenic that we're worried about, the man-made part, then that number gets smaller (some of the arsenic is naturally occurring).

Anyways, I guess my question is this: WHY ARE WE PANICKING??? Just drink the arsenic laced-water!!!

As you can see, your question does not provide sufficient information to determine if the CO2 or arsenic are dangerous. I gave all the same information you gave, but drink that glass of water, and you're dead.

CO2 can be blamed on human emissions of petroleum which the left hates. I have not exactly figured out the origin of this hatred since it goes back a long ways. It was used to blame humans for global cooling. Leftists like Nancy Pelosi and Obama want to prevent us from using oil. They haven't even figured out good alternatives and they want to drive up the price of petroleum and restrict our access. It is insane that Americans are letting these fringe San Francisco lunatics run our energy policy. It is like letting Charles Manson run a Daycare center.

Easy answer. Your "minor" role your talking about is a significant role because it is UNNATURAL. Pumping it into the cycle will increase the role of CO2 exponentially. The earth runs on delicate systems. Now to the earth it means nothing, but to life on this planet it can mean the difference between flourishing and brink of extinction. You use these numbers without understand what it really means. I suggest you take a class in it.

Concentration is not the same as effectiveness.

A poison can kill you, with only a very tiny percent of your body weight.

Some of us *will* "panic" about *something*, and consider CO2 more worthy of concern than say, Al Qaeda.

Added to the CO2 are more exotic chemicals, like methane, which are *more* potent, and CFCs, which are more potent that methane.

We are panicking because there is change coming as a result of excess CO2 in the atmosphere and change is sometimes scary and uncomfortable to most of us. As simple as that.

U got it right.!!!Those that think that CO2 is a serious problem just need to stop breathing. CO2 is CO2 whether it comes from man or a volcano.

All the concern over CO2 is riduculous. The earth and oceans can absorb any 'extra' very easily.