Science Writer: Who Is Doing The Math? And Buried In The Headline: Nearly 2 Parts Per Million -- You Have Got To Be Kidding

Updates

November 22, 2012: Irrefutable facts that global warming advocates never address:

• "man-made" CO2 represents but 3% of all greenhouse gases, not including water vapor. Water vapor is the number #1 "greenhouse gas" by a huge margin; again, CO2 represents but 3% of all greenhouse gases; eliminate all CO2 and one still has 97% of the other gases to deal with, including water vapor
• the increase in atmospheric CO2, from 2010 to 2011, is measured at "nearly two parts per million"; the annual variability of atmospheric CO2 is 3 - 9 parts per million
• Canada, one of the first signatories of the Kyoto Protocol, has pulled out of the protocol (2011)
• Germany has switched to coal (from nuclear energy) to provide the bulk of its electricity; of all forms of energy, coal is considered one of the worse for CO2 generation
• most EU countries, in 2011 - 2012, due to financial constraints, have pulled back on renewable energy, if not completely banning new renewable initiatives [note: I have posted this several times; this was posted November 21, 2012; a new link at Bloomberg validating this fact was published November 22, 2012]
• even ardent global warmers agree that global warming ended 16 years ago, as noted by the British Met Office; these ardent global warmers agree, but argue that a 16-year plateau is too short a period from which to draw conclusions; this plateau occurred during a period of heavy industrialization, especially in China, and when overall CO2 concentration was 140% of that in the pre-industrial age
• Antarctic ice is growing in volume
• CO2 emissions of the United States is currently at a 20-year low 
• despite rising sea levels, 657 new islands were discovered through satellite imagine, announced in 2011 -- this is the weakest of the arguments because it is possible most of these islands were simply "overlooked/missed" in earlier surveys
• the "intelligent designer" has not revealed the "correct" setting of the earth's thermostat

Those are irrefutable facts. 

Later, 9:56 pm: in the post below and the linked article, CO2 levels are stated to be in the range of 400 parts per million. Exactly what is "400 ppm"? To put this in perspective:

Submarine crew are reported to be the major source of CO2 on board submarines (Crawl 2003). Data collected on nine nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines indicate an average CO2 concentration of 3,500 ppm with a range of 0-10,600 ppm, and data collected on 10 nuclear-powered attack submarines indicate an average CO2 concentration of 4,100 ppm with a range of 300-11,300 ppm. Source: National Academies Press.

Later, 9:54 pm: what percent of atmospheric greenhouse gases comes from man-made CO2? 3%. Three percent. The major atmospheric greenhouse gas? Water vapor. Source: Global Warming/GeoCraft. In other words, if we eliminated ALL CO2 from the atmosphere, 97% of all greenhouses gases would remain.

Original Post 

Here is the verbatim cut-and-paste paragraph from LifeScience.com:

Chief among these heat-trapping gases is carbon dioxide (CO2), the biggest culprit behind global warming. Carbon dioxide levels reached about 390.9 parts per million last year, which is 140 percent of the pre-industrial level of 280 parts per million and nearly 2 parts per million higher than the 2010 carbon dioxide level, according to the WMO report.

Generally speaking, when something increases by a hundred percent, it is said to have doubled. So, if the pre-industrial level was 280 and it increased by 100%, it should be 560 parts per million. And then another 40% of 280, about 110, added to the 560 would yield 670 parts per million.

In fact, 40% of 280 --> 110, which added to 280, gives the current number of 390. It increased by 40% assuming the numbers are to be trusted in the first place.

[Update: the linked story is accurate as written; see first comment.]

Oh, I almost missed this. How fast is CO2 rising ... according to the article? It rose "NEARLY 2 PARTS PER MILLION" between 2010 and 2011. Nearly two parts per million. You have got to be kidding. Reproducible? Hardly. Significant. Not. [Update, from wiki: There is an annual fluctuation of about 3–9 ppmv which roughly follows the Northern Hemisphere's growing season.]

Two parts / million increase: from 389 to 391 or thereabouts.  391 - 389 --> 2. Then 2/389 --> 0.5% increase in one year. Zero-point-five percent. Reproducible? Hardly. Statistically significant. Not. And even if this is absolutely accurate, a half-percent increase, would that mean anything with regard to global warming or Hurricane Sandy. Obviously not. And with the huge population increase in the past year, a rise of less than half-a-percent is pretty remarkable. Not only is earth's population growing, but per capita, energy use is going up. 

Note: the exact number is not provided: simply a "nearly 2 parts per million."  As my daughter would text, LOL.

But assuming the numbers are correct, the blame must rest with China and Europe, certainly not the US. The US has far exceeded its responsibility, compared to the rest of the world, in reducing CO2 emissions. The New York Times, the most trusted mainstream medium on global warming reported, just a few months ago, that US CO2 emissions were at a 20-year low.

And that fits with recent new stories: Canada has withdrawn from the Kyoto protocol in the past year; EU is switching to coal in lieu of natural gas; and, China is building an average of one coal-powered utility plant every day. Even the CIA is closing its "global warming office." (Which I assume was a spa, to begin with.)

As noted above, CO2 emissions are associated with global warming. No one has been able to provide the answer to the question: who determines the earth's thermostat setting?

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From that last link, speaking of the thermostat:

..... we are talking about 0.6 degrees Celsius over 100 years -- neither statistically significant nor reproducible. Again...0.6 degrees Celsius over 100 years; if science were only so precise ... again, 0.6 degrees... are you kidding?

There is also some question whether CO2 accumulation is the main culprit in climate change: it is hard to reconcile that earthly CO2 concentrations have increased by 40% over the past year, and global warming actually ended 16 years ago according to the British weather office.