Biological Impacts Summary
• Atmospheric carbon dioxide is not a pollutant. It is a non-toxic, non-irritating, and natural
component of the atmosphere. Long-term CO2 enrichment studies confirm the findings of
shorter-term experiments, demonstrating numerous growth-enhancing, water-conserving, and
stress-alleviating effects of elevated atmospheric CO2 on plants growing in both terrestrial and
aquatic ecosystems.
• The ongoing rise in the air’s CO2 content is causing a great greening of the Earth. All
across the planet, the historical increase in the atmosphere’s CO2 concentration has stimulated
vegetative productivity. This observed stimulation, or greening of the Earth, has occurred in
spite of many real and imagined assaults on Earth’s vegetation, including fires, disease, pest
outbreaks, deforestation, and climatic change.
• There is little or no risk of increasing food insecurity due to global warming or rising
atmospheric CO2 levels. Farmers and others who depend on rural livelihoods for income are
benefitting from rising agricultural productivity throughout the world, including in parts of Asia
and Africa where the need for increased food supplies is most critical. Rising temperatures and
atmospheric CO2 levels play a key role in the realization of such benefits.
• Terrestrial ecosystems have thrived throughout the world as a result of warming
temperatures and rising levels of atmospheric CO2. Empirical data pertaining to numerous
animal species, including amphibians, birds, butterflies, other insects, reptiles, and mammals,
indicate global warming and its myriad ecological effects tend to foster the expansion and
proliferation of animal habitats, ranges, and populations, or otherwise have no observable
impacts one way or the other. Multiple lines of evidence indicate animal species are adapting,
and in some cases evolving, to cope with climate change of the modern era.
• Rising temperatures and atmospheric CO2 levels do not pose a significant threat to
aquatic life. Many aquatic species have shown considerable tolerance to temperatures and
CO2 values predicted for the next few centuries, and many have demonstrated a likelihood of
positive responses in empirical studies. Any projected adverse impacts of rising temperatures
or declining seawater and freshwater pH levels (“acidification”) will be largely mitigated through
phenotypic adaptation or evolution during the many decades to centuries it is expected to take
for pH levels to fall.
• A modest warming of the planet will result in a net reduction of human mortality from
temperature-related events. More lives are saved by global warming via the amelioration of
cold-related deaths than those lost under excessive heat. Global warming will have a negligible
influence on human morbidity and the spread of infectious diseases, a phenomenon observed
in virtually all parts of the world.
Source: Idso, C.D., Idso, S.B., Carter, R.M., and Singer, S.F. (Eds.) 2014. Climate Change
Reconsidered II: Biological Impacts. Chicago, IL: The Heartland Institute.
I would like to hear the other side of climate change, but these people are not the ones to present it. The first two sentences are absolute lies and the remainder are either lies or unsupported diversions. Most carbon dioxide comes from burning organic materials. Carbon dioxide is toxic beginning with 1000 ppm. Current atmospheric level is close to 400ppm and increasing rapidly. This pseudo-science reminds me of the photo on the internet in which one scientist claimed that our solar system has two suns. Anyone who believes that climate change is good is probably in the 25% of Americans who still think that the earth is flat (survey on Yahoo).
ReplyDeleteheatrland insitute? give me a break!
ReplyDeleteConsider the statement that a modest warming will reduce deaths from freezing. That is pure speculation, wishful thinking at best. The actual number, if any, would be exceedingly small. The reality is that global warming is causing the expansion of deserts. Even as a child I read that Sahara was advancing south at the rate of 2 miles per year, although at the time I did not know what was causing it. The resulting reduction of rainfall in many areas is causing a real surge in deaths due to starvation, an estimated additional 300,000 per year due to global warming alone. Remember the photos of the starving African children? Would you rather freeze or starve?
ReplyDeleteSounds to me like Heartland is the group to contact if you want someone to make the bubonic plague and World War II sound like good things.
ReplyDeletehey strip mines prevent forest fires !!!!!!!!!mountain top removal fill and gob in headwaters also prevents flooding ..........does that sound like science too ??????there is a national park called glacier national park the only problem is the glacier has melted ........how can you ask people to vote for you and patti when you print such nonsense ,for a job that holds our safety and welfare in your hands,if you win that office that you seek????? .........what bothers me most is that a lot of school kids read this blog ,and i would not want them to think this stuff is valid........
ReplyDeleteHey, to the above 'poster' -- The Pocahontas Commentator is a 'muckraker' publication that provides information for both thought & controversy -- and it seems to be doing its job & then some! In case you hadn't noticed, there is no commentary from Norman or Patti as to whether they agree or disagree with this 'Heartland' publication -- which if anyone who has read the REAL CAMPAIGN ISSUES on The Pocahontas Crier definitely shows that both Norman & Patti ARE ENVIRONMENTALISTS opposed to 'fracking', in favor of making pure, clean water the #1 business in this county, and favoring Wind Turbines as clean energy, among other positive changes for progress & prosperity. So thanks for your comments since it shows that THE ISSUE of Climate Change caused by CO2 definitely got your attention! Now why don't YOU tell us just how advanced the European Union is already, and especially how Germany is now the most advanced country in the world running on clean energy of Wind Turbines & Solar panels! Check out < www.crier88.blogspot.com > for the Real Issues facing this county that WE CAN DO SOMETHING ABOUT compared to being simple victims of Climate Change!
ReplyDeleteLet's talk about the threat to aquatic life. Many species are not greatly affected by an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide, at least for the short term and at least at current levels. Someone forgot to tell corals, because many of the great coral reefs are dying because of higher water temperatures. Nobody told polar bears, either. Because the arctic is getting warmer faster than the rest of the planet, the pack ice is not forming as early as it once did. The bears need the pack ice to hunt seals, and the seals need the ice to birth their young. Consequently polar bears are becoming endangered.
ReplyDeleteLet's talk about the idea that increased carbon dioxide will increase the number of animal species. This is a real red herring. First of all, the time for a new species to develop is in the hundreds of thousands of years, even millions. In the next thousand years, even if human population growth slows dramatically, there may not be any animals left except in zoos, farms and museums.
There is no other side to global warming.
Increased carbon dioxide in the air is "greening" up the world, is it. It is too bad that nobody bothered to tell the rest of the world. Increased carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, creates higher average temperatures, which reduces rainfall in much of the world, which causes the world's deserts to expand. What used to be productive is now useless. I quote from a 2005 CNN report: "(CNN) -- Millions of people could lose their homes and livelihoods as the world's deserts expand because of climate change and unsustainable human activities, an environmental report warned on Friday."
ReplyDeleteHeartland should be telling people the truth instead of blatantly lying.
And you think CNN told you the entire story right .
DeleteThe truth is global warming may have been increased slightly by us but not much it is part of a natural global cycle as will be global cooling . We had a mini Ice age about 10,000 years ago there is evidence the poles had plants growing at one time and there is evidence the earth was a frozen ball with no life except perhaps deep in the ocean which remained unfrozen.
ReplyDeleteOne issue is this has become a political issue for many and few have looked at the entire facts that are there for all to see.
If you want do away with the small % increase to global warming man has caused going green is not the answer it will take to long cost to much and doing away with fossil fuels usage world wide is a dope smokers dream. What would do the trick is to do away with the man factor who produces and uses fossil fuels US .
So the only real way to solve the issue is to kill off about 1 in 5 of the people alive mainly in the US and the EURO union along with a few other nations .
The Road Runner....
sounds like the same logic used by the cigarettes are good for you people from the 1960`s.......... just think they didn`t even have fox news to help them back then.......imagine how many more people could have died of smoking related issues,with the science of denial........ sad but we will never know if climate change is fact or fiction........we will be long gone by the time future generations deal with our misdeeds of today .........
Delete