Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to You need to read more carefully

A runaway greenhouse effect is quite unlikely.
Dr Clayton Forrester — (archived)

The earth has endured all sorts of astronomical and geological catastrophes which have altered the climate, sometimes severely, but a Venus effect has obvously never happened. Earth, and life, still survive. No one is predicting a runaway greenhouse effect except you.

What actually happens is that the climate undergoes a relatively rapid change, then stabilizes at some new equilibrium. The climate will change by a few degrees, and then settle down at that level. On the other hand, a change of a few degrees in a short time, even if it does not alter life, or even humanity, will still affect current patterns of weather quite dramatically.

Civilization will probably not survive the economic dislocations brought about by massive changes in rainfall patterns and their effect on agriculture. Man may survive, in a more primitive state, and life on earth
will continue as if nothing happened. But your greenhouse effect is a straw man argument you are invoking because it can be easily disproved. It's a cheap rhetorical trick that has already been tried here by other ideological hacks and it won't wash.

And by the way, water vapor is not a greenhouse gas, because at the high altitudes at which the terrestrial greenhouse effect dominates, water freezes out and the CO2 molecule is just the right size to increase the atmospheric opacity to infrared radiation. That's why carbon dioxide is the dominant greenhouse gas. Not even responsible critics of AGW bring up that ridiculous water objection any more. As Mr P. suggests, go to realclimate.org and educate yourself.

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