Wait...WHAT?!!

For years now we’ve been hearing how CO₂ is an evil gas generated by the Evil Humans that will, in the end, Kill-Us-All when it causes the Earth’s surface to become an inferno. The AGW faithful have never waivered from their beliefs, working to silence unbelievers who dare question the One True Faith.

However, it is quite possible that their faith is about to be shaken.

The warming over the past 100+ years may have a cause that has little to do with CO₂: air pollution.

In a recent article in the Journal of Geography, Environment and Earth Science International, Transdyne Corporation geoscientist J. Marvin Herndon makes the startling claim that climate scientists, including the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), have been chasing the wrong culprit for global warming and climate change.

--snip--

Inspired by Gottschalk’s data, Herndon considered “the broader activities of WW2,” especially those capable of “altering Earth’s delicate energy balance by particulate aerosols.” Herndon then “generalized [these] to post-WW2 global warming.” The geoscientist used relative-values of pollution-causing proxies to demonstrate “the reasonableness of the proposition that increases in aerosolized particulates over time is principally responsible for the concomitant global warming increases.”

These proxies for global particulate pollution – increasing global coal and crude oil production, as well as aviation fuel consumption – rise in strikingly parallel fashion to the rise in global temperature as shown in the accompanying figure.

What if Herndon is right? What if it has been air pollution driving the climate change we’ve been seeing and not CO₂?

I expect some heads will explode. Others will see their finances take a downward turn, specifically those who have “bet the farm” on things like carbon taxes and mandated changes to non-carbon based energy sources. If it hasn’t been CO₂ all this time, all of the mandates, sanctions, and snake oil cures being foisted upon an unwilling public will have no value.

While Anthony Watts, founder of Watts Up With That, doesn’t agree with the hypothesis, he decided to post it if for no other reason than to spur some discussion. If nothing else make sure to read the comments as they can be as informative as the post itself.