Originally Posted by
tomder55
The issue related to alleged anthropogenic climate change have nothing to do with other pollutants . Carbon dioxide is not a pollutant despite what SCOTUS says
Here's some reading for you scientists out there.
We know that the increase in atmospheric CO
2 is anthropogenic from a number of lines of evidence.
Atmospheric oxygen is decreasing at approximately the same rate as the atmospheric CO
2 increase, which tells us that the source of the change is from a release of carbon combining with atmospheric oxygen rather than a natural release of CO
2.
Thus we know that human emissions are increasing the amount of CO
2 in the atmosphere, which as a greenhouse gas, in turn increases the greenhouse effect. This increases the amount of energy (in the form of longwave infrared radiation) reaching the Earth's surface. We've
observed this increase through spectroscopy, which measures changes in the electromagnetic spectrum. Climate scientists have also
quantified the amount of warming we expect to see from the energy imbalance caused by this increased downward radiation, and it matches well with observations. Given the amount of CO
2 humans have added to the atmosphere already, once the planet reaches a new equilibrium state, it will have warmed approximately 1.4°C from pre-industrial levels. Additionally, we have observed numerous
key 'fingerprints' of anthropogenic global warming which confirm that the warming we've experienced is due to an increased greenhouse effect.
There are some positive effects of global warming from increased CO
2 emissions. For example, improved agriculture at high latitudes and increased vegetation growth in some circumstances. However,
the negatives will far outweigh the positives. Coast-bound communities are threatened by
rising sea levels. Melting glaciers threaten the
water supplies of hundreds of millions. Species are already becoming extinct at a rate
100 to 1000 times higher than the “background” rate of long spans of geological time, partially due to the effects of global warming and climate change.
Another impact of increasing atmospheric CO
2 emissions is ocean acidification. Among other impacts, this decreasing oceanic pH has a damaging effect on corals, which form the habitat of approximately 25% of marine species (
Karleskint et al. 2009). A seminal study co-authored by 17 marine scientists (
Hoegh-Guldberg et al. 2007) found:
"Many experimental studies have shown that a doubling of pre-industrial [CO2] atm to 560 ppm decreases coral calcification and growth by up to 40% through the inhibition of aragonite formation (the principal crystalline form of calcium carbonate deposited in coral skeletons) as carbonate-ion concentrations decrease"
Thus not only does anthropogenic CO
2 act as a dangerous pollutant due to its impacts on global warming and climate change, but it also has a major effect on marine ecosystems through ocean acidification.
When considering the legal definition of "air pollutants" and body of scientific evidence, it becomes clear that CO
2 meets the definition and poses a significant threat to public health and welfare.
Here's the data for the scientifically inclined:
https://skepticalscience.com/print.php?r=281