Here’s my sixth Cranky Uncle video, debunking the myth that CO2 is just a trace gas so can’t warm the Earth. This animated video is adapted from cartoons in the Cranky Uncle vs. Climate Change book.
We understand the greenhouse effect in three easy steps. First, greenhouse gases allow visible light—sunlight—to travel freely to the Earth’s surface. Second, the Earth is warmed by sunlight, and glows with infrared heat. Third, this infrared heat radiates from the Earth’s surface, but greenhouse gases trap the heat, stopping it from escaping to space.
Aircraft and satellites measure less heat escaping to space at the exact wavelengths that carbon dioxide absorbs energy. The greenhouse effect is a measured fact.
One cranky argument is that carbon dioxide, or CO2, is a small percentage – .04 percent of the atmosphere – so it can’t have a significant effect. This is a red herring, an irrelevant point designed to distract.
We all know from everyday life that small amounts of an active substance can have a strong effect, whether it be a drop of arsenic in a glass of water, or a fraction of a percent of alcohol in our blood stream.
If you want to delve into this myth in greater detail, we debunk the myth “CO2 is a trace gas so its warming effect is minimal” at Skeptical Science. We also debunk the myth in our MOOC Denial101x: Making Sense of Climate Science Denial:
Check out the full list of Cranky Uncle videos on YouTube.
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