Coign, most of the discussion on this page is based around things like this:
Quote:
Greenhouse gasses are:
water vapor: 1%-4%
carbon dioxide: .039%
methane: .000179%
nitrous oxide: .00003%
ozone: .0 to 7×10−6% (Essentially zero)
[and the atmosphere also includes oxygen 20% and nitrogen 79% etc]
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Your argument seems to be that because CO2 is only a tiny percentage of the atmosphere, it is responsible for an equally tiny percentage of heat retention. This isn't the case. Small percentages can have big effects. A 200 ml cup of coffee might have only 100 milligrams of caffeine, but that is the 0.05% that keeps you awake. When it comes to the greenhouse effect, CO2 is a kicker like this.
Perhaps you're thinking that water vapour is still 25 to 100 times more common in the atmosphere than CO2, but the same point applies. They are not equally as powerful at being greenhouse gases. In fact, methane is more powerful than both, and CFCs are even worse.
And here is the issue. All your posts simply report the relative concentrations of these gases in the atmosphere. This incorrectly assumes that all the gases are equally potent as greenhouse gases. The real issue is the relative contribution these gases make to the overall greenhouse effect.
But even if anthropogenic CO2 only contributes a little to the greenhouse effect, that still matters. In a feedback system like the global climate, every little factor does count in determining the ongoing state. The Earth does have a natural greenhouse effect, and that is a good thing- we'd be some 20 degrees C cooler without it, and water vapour, natural methane and natural CO2 are the main causes of this. The recent increases in CO2 and methane are increasing the strength of the effect. This
will have an effect.