In a press release yesterday that was fit for a Halloween scare the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) bemoaned the news that globally-averaged atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations have reached 403 parts per million, up some 40 percent since the early 1800s.

But why the concern?

Because to them and other alarmists like them, any rise in atmospheric CO2 is bad -- for it is their postulate that ongoing future increases in CO2 will unleash an irreversible climate apocalypse. According to WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas, "without rapid cuts in CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions, we will be heading for dangerous temperature increases by the end of this century," which will wreak havoc across the earth's climate system and cause severe ecological and economic disaster such that "future generations will inherit a much more inhospitable planet."

The truth is, however, that the world is far from the predicament of a biospheric collapse. And, rather than lamenting the modern rise in atmospheric CO2, governments should be celebrating it!

Consider, for example, the fact that there has been no appreciable warming over the past two decades, despite a 37 ppm increase in atmospheric CO2, an observation that all climate models have failed to predict. Consider the fact that thousands of laboratory and field studies show elevated levels of CO2 to be an aerial fertilizer, enhancing plant growth and improving crop yields. And consider the numerous other direct and indirect benefits society has received over the past 200 years as humanity has utilized and harnessed the energy of fossil fuels. The industrial age has initiated multiple advances and inventions, leading to widespread economic growth, which has helped to raise the standard of living and life expectancy for untold billions of people.

Yet despite such real and measurable benefits, the deep-state climate cabal continues to demonize CO2 and demand the world stop its emission into the atmosphere. Despite any shred of proof (and multiple lines of evidence to the contrary as demonstrated all throughout our website) of forthcoming dangerous climate change they would force society to abandon energy production from fossil fuel sources. In their attempts to control carbon they would turn their backs on industrialization, economic progress and human lifespan. Ironically, the very actions they propose would engender the very scenarios of human suffering they wish to avert.

And so, this Halloween, don't be fooled by the ghouls and goblins of climate doom. Educate yourself, rise up and let your voice be heard. Carbon dioxide is not a pollutant. It only minimally impacts climate but its release into the atmosphere greatly benefits humanity and nature alike!

Figure 1. A 500-million-year record of the atmosphere's CO2 concentration (relative to that of the present = 1), as derived by Rothman (2002), together with indications of periods of relative cold and warmth that illustrates the historic decoupling between temperature and atmospheric CO2. This image also reveals that for the past 30 million years the earth has experienced record low CO2 concentrations and that, geologically speaking, it has been in a CO2 famine. For nearly all of the past 500 million years, atmospheric CO2 concentrations have been much higher than they are presently.

Reference
Rothman, D.H. 2002. Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels for the last 500 million years. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 99: 4167-4171.