Anderson letter: Climate change

David L. Ederer submitted a letter about climate change, Jan. 15, in which he voiced a cause/effect relationship between the increase in atmospheric CO-2 (all due to human activity he seemed to say) and global temperature increase. He also mentioned increased water vapor (a major greenhouse gas) in the atmosphere. Is that man-caused too? Was that water vapor greenhouse gas more significant than the CO-2?

Ice cores show that historically, temperature increases preceded CO-2 increases implying with Mr. Ederer’s reasoning that warming caused the increased CO-2 and not the other way around. Also most atmospheric CO-2 comes from the oceans, I’ve read, especially from warming oceans. Many documentaries about the oceans feature volcanic eruptions yet I’ve never heard or read about the effects of massive undersea volcanic eruptions and ocean warming, and subsequent release of more CO-2.

Also, keep in mind that virtually all plants grow faster and more lush in the presence of increased (even 200 percent) atmospheric CO-2. Plant biologists I’ve conversed with, at major university research stations, refer to atmospheric CO-2 as plant fertilizer.

So, increased atmospheric CO-2 may just be a desperately needed benefit to a starving world very hungry for cultivated food stuffs.

This story was originally published January 30, 2017 at 5:47 PM with the headline "Anderson letter: Climate change."