{"id":284200,"date":"2023-10-20T17:01:43","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:01:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=284200"},"modified":"2023-10-20T17:01:48","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:01:48","slug":"what-youre-told-about-greenhouse-gases-is-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=284200","title":{"rendered":"What You\u2019re Told About Greenhouse Gases is\u00a0Wrong"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carbon dioxide is only about 0.04% of the atmosphere (400 parts per million). This means that, overall, it\u2019s much less important than water vapor in terms of its ability to warm the atmosphere and wetlands and termites are the real methane producers.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

From Science Matters<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\u00a0Ron Clutz<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mark Adams explains the deceptions in his American Thinker article The fables about greenhouse gases, especially about methane<\/strong><\/a>  Excerpts in italics with my bolds and added images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cClimate change\u201d is in the news daily,<\/strong> with each featured story getting an attention-grabbing sensationalist headline. The frenzy is at its peak now because it\u2019s the time of year for tropical storms and wildfires<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, to appreciate that these stories are pure narratives,
it\u2019s a good time to consider the facts behind
the so-called \u201cgreenhouse gases.\u201d<\/mark><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several atmospheric gases<\/strong>, including carbon dioxide, methane, and water vapor,\u00a0absorb light in the infrared region<\/strong>. These are collectively known as the \u201cgreenhouse gases\u201d because\u00a0absorbing infrared energy warms up the air<\/strong>\u2014hence the name greenhouse effect.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Carbon dioxide, on a per-molecule basis, is six times as effective an absorber as water is. However, that\u2019s offset by the fact that carbon dioxide is only about 0.04% of the atmosphere<\/strong> (400 parts per million). This means that, overall, it\u2019s much less important than water vapor in terms of its ability to warm the atmosphere.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But\u00a0there is another reason<\/a>\u00a0why we will probably never have to worry about methane being a major contributor to global warming:\u00a0Methane\u2019s narrow absorption bands, at 3.3 microns and 7.5 microns , perfectly match\u2026water\u2019s!<\/strong>\u00a0Did you catch that? It\u2019s worth emphasizing: \u201cThe ratio of the percentages of water to methane is such that the effects of methane are completely masked by water.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Nor is methane a cow problem that humans can remediate by going meatless. Instead,\u00a0wetlands and termites<\/a>\u00a0are the real methane producers<\/strong>: \u201cWhen it comes to methane, another greenhouse gas, termites are responsible for 11 percent of the world\u2019s production from natural sources. Seventy-six percent comes from wetlands\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Image: Termites in a wetland by AI.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Many studies have attributed a methane spike to soaring emissions from tropical wetlands<\/a>, predominantly in Africa<\/strong>. \u201cA \u2018significant change\u2019 in tropical weather ascribed to human-caused climate change has led wetlands to get bigger and more plants to grow there, thus leading to more decomposition \u2014 a process that produces methane.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/ins>You noted, of course, how the quoted language blames methane on human-caused climate change<\/strong>. Yet this same \u201chuman-caused\u201d climate change is also blamed for transforming lush Hawaii<\/a> into an arid ticking time bomb<\/strong> that, in the summer of 2023, erupted into a devastating inferno. Moreover, it seems like it wasn\u2019t that long ago when environmentalists were ardent supporters of wetlands.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, ignoring the predominance of naturally occurring methane, a band of climate fanatics<\/strong> wants to<\/strong> eliminate traditional farming and ranching because they are sources of methane<\/strong>, primarily from ruminant livestock and paddy rice. Rice growing produces methane gas by feeding microbes that live under the rice paddies. Cattle produce methane during their digestive process.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Ireland, farmers may be forced to kill some of their livestock<\/a> to meet government requirements:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Greenhouse gas emissions in Ireland\u2019s agriculture industry must be reduced by 25 per cent by 2030. This is part of the country\u2019s latest Climate Action Plan, which pledges to halve overall carbon emissions by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Current initiatives to cut methane gas emissions<\/strong> from domestic livestock like cows and pigs by culling them, a potentially famine-inducing policy, fail to take into account the sheer volume of feral animals.<\/strong> For example, in Australia<\/a>, \u201cthere is 10 times the number of feral pigs \u2026 than domestic.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By some estimates,\u00a0Australia contains<\/a>\u00a0\u201c 400,000 wild horses,
five million donkeys, 150,000 water buffalo, one million camels,
and 24 million feral pigs\u2014in comparison,
the United States contains just six million feral pigs.\u201d<\/mark><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To put things in perspective, let\u2019s go back to the lowly termites<\/a>. Consider that, in 1992, \u201cit was estimated<\/strong> that the digestive tracts of termites produce about 50 billion tons of CO2 and methane annually.<\/strong> That was more than the world\u2019s production from burning fossil fuel.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1982, the journal Science published an article<\/a> titled \u201cTermites: A Potentially Large Source of Atmospheric Methane, Carbon Dioxide, and Molecular Hydrogen.\u201d Here is the key sentence: \u201cThe estimate gross amount of carbon dioxide produced is more than twice the net global input from fossil fuel production.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That same year, the New York Times<\/a> ran an article titled: \u201cTermite gas exceeds smokestack pollution.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

None of this information stops the Biden administration.<\/strong> In November 2021<\/a>, it \u201cproposed regulations on methane emissions by the U.S. oil and gas industry<\/strong>, at a direct cost of more than $1 billion annually, to deal with a nonexistent problem.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wouldn\u2019t it be nice if a little science got through to
the policy-makers behind so-called \u201cclimate science\u201d?<\/mark><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Carbon dioxide is only about 0.04% of the atmosphere (400 parts per million). This means that, overall, it\u2019s much less important than water vapor in terms of its ability to warm the atmosphere and wetlands and termites are the real methane producers. From Science Matters By\u00a0Ron Clutz Mark Adams explains the deceptions in his American […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":284212,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Carbon dioxide is only about 0.04% of the atmosphere (400 parts per million). This means that, overall, it\u2019s much less important than water vapor in terms of its ability to warm the atmosphere and wetlands and termites are the real methane producers.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691823804,691823806,691818056,691818088,691823805],"class_list":["post-284200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-0-04-400-parts-per-million","tag-climate-action-plan","tag-climate-change","tag-greenhouse-gases","tag-wetlands-and-termites","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1bVS","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":243672,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=243672","url_meta":{"origin":284200,"position":0},"title":"Science website cancels atmospheric water vapour","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"02\/07\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"So even for fans of greenhouse theories there\u2019s no escaping the predominance of water vapour over carbon dioxide. Completely ignoring it makes the whole CO2-promoting article redundant.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-286.png?fit=1200%2C1149&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-286.png?fit=1200%2C1149&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-286.png?fit=1200%2C1149&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-286.png?fit=1200%2C1149&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-286.png?fit=1200%2C1149&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":444332,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=444332","url_meta":{"origin":284200,"position":1},"title":"Climate Pseudoscience Debunked: Livestock Methane Fears are Baseless","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"05\/15\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Policymakers are demanding that farmers scale back meat production, reengineer agricultural systems, and burden consumers with higher grocery bills to prevent a fabricated climate catastrophe. 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And then there\u2019s\u00a0methane<\/strong>. Pound-for-pound\u00a0methane can trap 25 times<\/a>\u00a0more heat than carbon dioxide. However, there are two reasons why scientists say it will never significantly contribute to global warming. Primarily, it is\u00a0by far the rarest of the green house gases.<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0[Note that weight is the wrong metric for radiation properties of gases, volume is what matters.\u00a0 The 25 times CO2 is exaggerated because CH4 molecular weight is only 16 compared to 44 for CO2.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n