Volcanoes majorly cause cooling because of the ash they eject. The particles are large enough to block sun entry enough that trapping heat is completely counteracted. Right now we are in a cooling trend - and a major volcano would be catostrophic - and not because it would heat us up. The ground warming from a volcano is not from C02 - it's from the mantle plume under the volcano - they are close to the surface so actually warm the ground they sit under. There is a major plume under parts of Africa right now and it is thought that there is one under Antarctica. The one under Yellowstone is so close to the surface that the ground has topped 200 degrees in places there.

Gore is finished - sued by scientists who want REAL science back and deplore this clamp and editing that has been put on scientific info for the purpose of monetary gain. It will take awhile for word to get out though because there are one heck of a lot of non-profits getting funding from this farce and they aren't going to willingly give up their funding sources.
LMAO

I cannot comment on your numbers (although I have a problem with the "human activity emits 132x as much CO2 as volcanos" one). I CAN comment on a very important number not in your analysis - the percentage of CO2 in the atmosphere that HUMANS are responsible for. Despite our penchant for massive pollution and ridiculous misuse of carbon-based fuels, human activity is responsible for less than 3% of the atmospheric CO2.

If we did all the dumb stuff that the carbon-nazis are suggesting, and essentially threw mankind back into the stone age (and eliminated 90% plus of the human population in the process) we would still not exert any appreciable change on the CO2-based greenhouse effect. Despite our ridiculous behavior on this planet, we don't really matter.

THAT is why the climate change rhetoric is so profoundly stupid. It is junk science of the worst kind, because it ignores one of the fundamental principles I was taught in Engineering school - first look at large effects (e.g. consider the "order of magnitude"). The erosion of Mt. Everest releases more CO2 into the atmosphere than all human activity combined - do we moan about those "darn mountains ruining our climate"??? When an underwater volcano breaks up to the surface and starts heating part of the ocean, more CO2 is released than decades of human activity. Are we going to cap underwater volcanos?

I am not for a moment suggesting that we don't curb our energy usage or, even more importantly, our pollution releases. That is an acute problem that requires immediate and sustained attention. Air pollution in most major cities is a significant cause of shortened human life (and more disease in general). We need to spend our resources wisely to improve our lives on this planet, not to satisfy some con-artists spouting junk science as part of a covert tax grab.

IMHO.

Best Regards, Georgetta

Several things on my mind about the thoughts expressed here.

Yes, Bigjock, the cyclical nature of climate change is real. The last ice age was 20,000 years ago and we are overdue for one. We're late for that cycle.

Heysal is correct in saying that volcanoes have a negligible contribution to CO2 emissions. Volcano eruptions contribute more ash than CO2 and the net effect is a global cooling by about 2 to 3 degrees Fahrenheit for about 2 years after the explosion. And forest fires contribute more CO2 emissions than volcanoes.

Since the thread has dissed scientists and politicians, I won't go there. I'd like to point out some things which have been proven to be true. Mainly quirky weather.

The ice caps are melting. It takes a lot of energy to melt the icecaps. In fact, a european team of scientists have been studying the northwest passage these past couple of years. And there are now commercial studies on running tankers down that route.

Another large slice of the Antarctic ice shelf split from Antarctica. And more are ice splits are expected in the near future.

In the Himalayas, there are more Everest climbers, than before. Thanks in part because the ice is creeping upwards. Ice is no longer found at lower altitudes than before.

There are more jellyfish attack on the US coast. And the jellyfish are now in great quantities even as north as New England. Jellyfish thrive and breed in warm waters. And the trend of growth and geographic incidence shows that the waters off New England have been getting warmer.

The western Sahara is getting warmer. The winds from that area sweep over the Atlantic and spawn hurricanes. The warmer the winds, the more numerous and stronger the hurricanes spawned. Think of Hurricane Katrina, just more, and stronger.

I don't really care what the scientists or what NASA say. I'm just holding on tight because we are all in for a bumpy ride.

"Manmade global warming" is the biggest hoax ever perpetuated. It's all about expanding government and socialism.

And Gore uses 10-100 times the energy that most of us do, the hypocrite. Did you know he has ownership in a company selling carbon credits?