the question becomes, "Is this critical enough to require actions that will badly damage the global economy and make life harder and more expensive for most of the population?"

Well, a recent peer-reviewed paper released in the American Journal of Economics and Sociology looked at the issue. Their answer? No.

The journal is the American Journal of Economics and Sociology. The article title is perfectly clear: “Carbon dioxide and a warming climate are not problems”.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ajes.12579

“Observations show no increase in damage or any danger to humanity today due to extreme weather or global warming (Crok & May, 2023, pp. 140–161; Scafetta, 2024). Climate change mitigation, according to AR6, means curtailing the use of fossil fuels, even though fossil fuels are still abundant and inexpensive. Since the current climate is arguably better than the pre-industrial climate and we have observed no increase in extreme weather or climate mortality, we conclude that we can plan to adapt to any future changes. Until a danger is identified, there is no need to eliminate fossil fuel use.”

The authors are Andy May and Marcel Crok and as the first parenthetical reference above indicates they are building on prior work. Their 53 References are not paywalled and quite interesting. //

The primary arguments in this study are not scientific but rather economic, and they are good ones; the final section reads in part:

Currently fossil fuels supply about 80% of our energy, reducing this to zero rapidly will devastate the world economy and cause widespread suffering, especially for the poor. Should we do nothing? If so, the President’s Council of Economic Advisors and the U.S. Office of Management and Budget projects that three degrees of global warming will cause a decline of <1% in U.S. GDP. Modern global warming, since 1950, has reduced GDP by <.5%, a trivial amount given that the economy has grown 800% in that time. Using IPCC scenarios, Lomborg estimates that economic growth will decline from 450% to 434% over the 21st century. Will anyone notice? //

This paper, although it looks very good from what is available for us to view, isn't the be-all and end-all. It's not a magic bullet that will end the debate. It's based on economic arguments, with an eye on data over the history of the planet's climate. But it's a good argument, another arrow in the quiver of those of us who contend with the climate scolds who daily try to legislate and regulate us back to the 19th century. And that makes it worth the effort. //

Musicman
17 minutes ago
Ask anyone you know what an ice age is. I can almost guarantee they'll something about 10,000 years ago when glaciers were as far South as where St. Louis is today. But guess what: the definition of an ice age is any time there are glaciers on the poles. Aha. We are now IN an ice age. The current ice age PEAKED 10,000 years ago. And why is there a special name for it? Because it's abby-normal. Since the Cambrian explosion (of life forms) some 541 million years ago, the earth has been in ice ages about 25% of the time. That means the normal state of planet earth is NO ICE ON THE POLES!!! The idea we will die if the polar ice caps melts is absurd. It does men dislocation, rising oceans, etc. The earth is constantly changing. Even if the current warming was caused by burning fossil fuels, it makes no difference. The earth will warm up eventually one way or another. And humans need to be prepared for that and for the ice peaking again and creating another 10,000 lakes in Minnesota. //

media is corrupt
an hour ago
The amount of CO2 is 420ppm (parts per million). That translates to .042% of the total atmosphere. It is literally a drop in a pool. We went from 280ppm to 420ppm in roughly 120-100 years and that, my friends, is the freak-out. However, as Al Gore accidentally showed, CO2 is a trailing indicator of heat. When the Earth warms, CO2 goes up with temps. NATURE.

The Earth has had 2%, 4% and more CO2 in the past (geologic history) and there was NO greenhouse effect that boiled the atmosphere and destroyed the Earth for all life. There is absolutely no evidence of that ever happening. There is, however, documented evidence of life exploding on Earth. Abundant life and new species with heat and relatively high levels of CO2. What the atmosphere does do is rebound. It self-corrects. Frankly, .042% CO2 is NOT going to hurt anything. Even if it went up to .08% or .12%, that would do NOTHING but supply more food for plants, which (in turn) would increase crop yields resulting in more food for ourselves.

We have been duped to think that CO2 is a danger to us all. The opposite is true. CO2 is life-giving. If plants could protest our efforts to curb CO2, they would. It's their food. If CO2 dropped below .018%, plant life would begin to die. That would be a true climate emergency because it would cause mass starvation for all life on Earth. One could actually conclude that CO2 is currently TOO LOW. Over the last 650 million years, the levels of CO2 have been well over 1% for the vast majority of the time. Thus, .042% is LOW and yet again the media has been pushing lies about this since Dan Rather kicked-off the hysteria 42 years ago (42 years of no change).

Go check out co2coalition(dot)org. I pray for the day when people wake up and realize they've been lead astray by a bunch of cry wolf dip sticks.