Facts on global warming

Letter to the editor April 5, 1998

The issue of so-called global warming and increased quantities of CO2 is of interest because of the lack of both scientific history and knowledge. The observance of global temperatures for the last century indicated a rise of approximately 0.8 degree F. prior to the 1940s. The recent hysteria was brought about by a slight rise from 1963 to 1987. Since then it has decreased. Air is, by volume, composed of nitrogen (N2), 78.1 percent; oxygen (O2), 20.9 percent; carbon dioxide, (CO2) 0.0314 percent; and the rest, various inert gases. Observations prior to 1918 indicated CO2 of 0.03 percent, up to 0.04 in urban areas. I have recently read that it has increased by 30 percent, and another source indicates that it was 0.036 percent in 1995 - still not very much. Data indicated in reference books also give the 0.03 percent value at sea level with no measurable amounts at 30,000 and 60,000 feet altitude levels.

CO2 is taken in by trees, shrubs, etc., and, with chlorophyll and sunlight, they give off oxygen. It is not a pollutant nor poisonous. We exhale CO2 when we breathe, and there has been no proof that it is causing global warming. My chemistry book states that the growth rate of trees and plants accelerates during these slight increases in CO2, which is nature's way of resolving things. In 1920 the population of the USA was 106 million and in 1990 248 million, and yet CO2 is still within prior observed values.

It appears to me that our leaders either have been readily hoodwinked or see another way to get more governmental control over us, or both. - CHARLES E. LANGBEIN Winter Haven

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