To the editor:

In my Feb. 19 letter I asked if anyone could show us from a thermodynamics perspective, how man-made CO2, which is so tiny, can send the globe into thermal disaster. The March 1 letter gave a reasonable answer, but neglected to show relative quantities to back his statement when he said: “man’s contribution throws our Earth’s carbon cycle out of balance.”

Consider that CO2 is a trace gas (only 0.04 percent of the atmosphere is CO2). Consider that the heat capacity of CO2 near the earth surface is about 23 times less than the sun’s150watts/sq-meter heat energy at that point. Now consider that about 97 percent of all CO2 in the atmosphere is made by nature, and 3 percent is man-made. That leaves man with a puny 0.195 watts/sq-meter of input to heat us up for “Thermaggedon.”

Consider that Ma Nature’s CO2 reservoirs located in the oceans and land areas can hold about 70-80 times more CO2 than what is in the atmosphere. Which is about 2,400 times as much as man’s puny atmospheric CO2 contribution. These reservoirs are in a constant state of flux, they absorb or emit CO2, depending on cloud cover, atmospheric particles, ocean currents, under sea volcanism, etc. So it would seem reasonable that these variables would push man’s puny 3 percent atmospheric CO2 contribution into the realm of insignificance in regard to any effect on global temperatures.

There’s about 10 times more water vapor in the atmosphere than CO2, and it has about twice the heat capacity of CO2. It makes up about 95 percent of greenhouse gas in the troposphere. Alarmists; take note.

The 40,000 miles of mid-ocean mountain ranges are borderlines of earth’s crust plate movement that injects tremendous heat into the ocean (in some places the water is over 700 degrees), along with volcanic gases like CO2, SO2, etc. We now monitor about 300 miles of it off our west coast. Most of the remaining 39700 miles is un-monitored. So until we get a handle on what this big “tank heater” is doing, we certainly should not be touting man-made global warming.

Phil Drietz

Delhi