CO2 & Net Zero: A matter of Life or Death

The book looks at the relationship between the Carbon Dioxide concentration in the atmosphere and the temperature of the Earth over the last 500 million years. It uses scientific data and explains without using mathematics how the Carbon Dioxide level is not directly related to global warming. It points out that the current CO2 concentration is almost the lowest it has ever been in the last 500 million years, and also shows that in previous long ice ages the CO2 level has been 5 times higher than it is today. A section of the book shows how CO2 is essential for all of life on Earth and the recent increase in the concentration has led to an increase in the vegetation cover particularly in dryer regions. Nevertheless, CO2 concentrations are currently at a near all time low and this is a major factor in the extensive desert regions on all continents. The book goes on to review the aims of the Net Zero agreement proposed by the United Nations and signed by at the Paris meeting in 2016. Thie measures now being implemented by some governments are already proving to be expensive and will lead to significant lifestyle changes for the entire population of the Earth. Yet the scientific evidence shows that we cannot expect the temperature of the Earth to be lowered by reducing CO2 emissions by human beings. The introduction is written by Professor William Happer of Princeton University.

About the Author :
Dr Philip Blakeley has a Bachelors degree in Physics and Chemistry and a PhD in Physics from the University of Keele in the UK. He has worked as a freelance physicist assisting companies to use scientific principles to develop new products. Examples are the development of the sea wave turbine which has successfully generated electricity on the coast of Islay in Scotland, and designing sub-sea equipment to capture and analyse methane concentrations at 3km deep off shore of San Francisco. Dr William Happer is the Cyrus Fogg Bracket Professor of Physics emeritus at Princeton University. He studied physics at the University of North Carolina, graduating in 1960 and his doctorate at Princeton University in 1964. He was appointed to the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science by President G W Bush and was later appointed by President Trump to the U. S. National Security Council to report on the relationship between Carbon Dioxide emissions and Global Warming.

Review :
On 12 December 2015 representatives from 196 countries attended the UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris, France. They signed a legally binding international treaty on climate change which entered into force on 4 November 2016. The treaty states that any future temperature rise on Earth should be limited to 2°C above pre-industrial levels, to be achieved by reducing Carbon Dioxide emissions. There appears to be no credible scenario where driving emissions of CO2 to zero by the year 2050 would avert a temperature increase of more than a few hundredths of a degree centigrade. The immense costs and sacrifices involved would lead to a reduction in warming approximately equal to the measurement uncertainty. It would be hard to find a better example of a policy of all pain and no gain. Prof. Richard Lindzen, MIT, USA, June 2024