Customer Reviews

A Primer on CO2 and Climate, 2nd Edition

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Dr. Hayden (Professor Emeritus of Physics from the University of Connecticut) has written a wonderful little book giving a non-technical description of the role of CO2 in the atmosphere. In 53 pages he lays out a large number of facts about CO2 and it's possible contribution to a warming earth.

He covers the general questions:
"<< Is the earth warming?
<< If the earth is warming, is mankind responsible?
<< If the earth is warming is that a bad situation?
<< If the earth is warming, and if mankind's use of fossil fuels is
responsible, and if the situation is bad, is there anything we
can do to remedy the situation?"

Dr. Hayden uses 36 figures and 8 tables to clearly illustrate his points.

His summary is succinct and he reaches each point very quickly. He starts with the greenhouse gas phenomenon and contrasts the role of the CO2 absorption spectrum with the role of the spectrum of H2O, it's dimer and trimer.

He discusses the increase in CO2 in recent years and then goes back to discuss the CO2 and temperature graph covering the last 400,000 years publicized recently by Al Gore. He also covers the 1812 - 1964 period, and then discusses CO2 over about 500 million years (the CO2 was many times higher in almost all earlier geologic periods).

Dr. Hayden points out many of the difficulties in making reasonable temperature measurements and argues (successfully in my opinion) that by far the best global temperatures are those from satellites. These currently show (Dec. 78 - Jun. 07) an increase below 0.13 degrees / decade. The short time satellites have been in orbit covers less than 30 years. Many think this period records the most rapid global temperature increase in the last 150 years, so I believe this small temperature increase cannot be reasonably counted as part of a long term trend. The shorter trends often reverse several times in a 100 year period so the record does not yet permit reasonable extrapolation.

He also discusses how the discredited 1,000 year "hockey stick" graph of temperatures (Mann, et. al.) has been corrected and shows higher temperatures in the 1400's than at present. The hockey stick appearance was a statistical error that is common among non-statistically trained economists and financiers. Physical evidence in the form of 1,000 and 5,000 year old tree stumps above the present tree line, confirm a warmer period in earlier human history.

He provides a brief discussion of O-18 measurements as a proxy for long term temperature trends as well as C-14 and Be-10 and their use in measuring past solar activity.

Dr. Hayden has an excellent discussion backed up by several illustrations of carbon flows into an out of the various sinks. The biggest flows of carbon into the atmosphere are the it's release by warm ocean water and soil respiration. The biggest flows out of the atmosphere are photosynthesis on land and CO2 uptake by cold ocean water. These are about 30 times and 40 times respectively the flow of carbon into the atmosphere from fossil fuel burning. He also provides a brief explanation for the decreasing greenhouse effect for each addition of CO2 to the atmosphere. There is also a comment on the retroactive causality implied by suggesting that increases in CO2 cause increases in temperature.

His discussion of computer models is dear to my own heart as I spent several years modeling infinitely simpler flows using the best research at the time (early 1980's). We found that our 2 phase, crude, water, gas flows with pressure, temperature and orifice variations were only going to be able to predict a short distance from measured conditions. Those predictions required "training" on a longer past measured history and even then were subject to occasional contradiction by the real world. The only justification was they were better (fewer million dollar mistakes) than an experienced engineer's top-of-the-head guess. I believe the global climate models suffer from so many omissions and even some assumptions that seem to violate physical laws that any reliance on their predictive ability is religion not science.

This summary work has discussions of the special temperature situation in the Antarctic, the claims of more violent storms, the effects of aerosols, correlations, solar activity, glacial retreat, polar ice caps on Mars, sea levels, mosquitoes, and the supposed scientific consensus.

When discussing anthropogenic global warming in his summary, Dr. Hayden concludes that "yes, the earth has been warming up." Are humans responsible "to some minor extent, probably; to a large extent, no." He argues that, based on past history, warming may be good for some areas and bad for others.

Assuming the foregoing summary is incorrect and humans are causing our planet to warn, Dr. Hayden discusses the political solution and what he calls "Engineering Dreams by non-Engineers." He discusses the problems with 6 of these "Dreams" including: greater efficiency, sequestration, renewables, fission, fusion, and hydrogen. While some can be useful, none offer a replacement for fossil fuels to the level the global warmers deem necessary.

I have read a number of interesting papers covering many of the topics he includes, but Dr. Hayden has produced a remarkable summary of the global warming issue in a very small book.

Well done, Howard Haden. A succinct and understandable tome on CO2 and its relationships to the earth's environment. I read this short book this evening as "desert" after the main course of "Climate Confusion" by Roy Spencer. Combine Hayden's information about the science and graphic representation (and misrepresentation) of measurements of temperature variations and CO2 levels (not to mention Milankovitch Cycles and ice ages) with Spencer's insights on weather, climate, and the economy and in the time span of a few hours, of enjoyable and understandable reading, I have learned more useful information on these topics than ever before. It would seem that Al Gore has some inconvenient explaining to do. . . and Hayden deserves (not carbon) credit for his excellent contribution in debunking the CO2 = global warming myth.

This is an excellent book for those who have only basic science skills, yet have an interest in learning what a qualified scientist can teach them about fundamental science relating to climate change and global warming and their relationship to atmospheric CO2. You will learn that the theory espoused by Mr. Gore and the IPCC is baseless for the simple reason that the atmosphere does not work like a typical "greenhouse" and that, in any event, atmospheric CO2 is severely limited in its potential impact on climate and climate change. Highly recommended for both novices and those who are experienced with this topic.

If you care about climate change, read this book: it is much the best introduction to CO2 and climate change, and is a superb guide for those who seek to influence or to understand energy and climate change policy.

This is a great book that discusses many of the claims of the global warming crowd and shows these claims to be either incorrect or greatly exaggerated. The author does a great job of presenting the science in a very understandable manner. It's a short book but filled with great information.

Since I agree with the previous 5 star reviews, I will add only the bottom line or "Final Note"from the book "Every rational person as understood from the beginning that strong reductions in CO2 emmissions would be nearly impossible to meet, and that people everywhere would suffer impoverishment with its attendant starvation and disease.
And for what?"

Thus I recommend that everyone interested in climate change read this small book and try to understand what is really going on. We have many other things to work on that can help the earth and poeple rather than to waste time, energy, and resources to a non problem.

As one who is relatively well read in the literature of the GW debate, it's rare to find a book that gives a new insight into things. Although on the short side, this book is one such. Well written for the most part while sometimes covering complex things. The author argues convincingly (which may be easier than it sounds) against the accuracy of GCM's (Global Circulation Models).

"A Primer on CO2 and Climate, 2nd Edition" is a decent source of data on CO2 concentration in the atmosphere and Climate. The 'warmists' and the 'deniers', both, tend to give data that is very untrustworthy. Dr. Hayden's data is fairly trustworthy.

Dr. Hayden is trustworthy in other respects as well. He gives excellent data on the current use of energy from various sources, that show how essential coal is to our way of life. He also gives very good examples of how warmists tend to exagerate the warming of the earth. Some of this stuff should be nailed to the foreheads of Gore, et al.

At 86 pages, this is a short work. The price may seem high. However, having decent data is worth it for me.

Some of the anthropogenic global warming alarmists (including a one-star review here) have dismissed this book of Howard Hayden because he is an advisor to CFACT, a non-profit organization which was created to provide accurate media coverage of energy-related issues like global warming. The alarmists attempt to impugn Hayden and his writing because CFACT has in the past received funding from ExxonMobil. What they fail to disclose is that CRU, the Climate Research Unit which has provided the scientific reasons for believing in catastrophic global warming to the IPCC, has received funding from Shell Oil and British Petroleum. Big oil has funded research on both sides of this issue, so Hayden's book should not be dismissed just because of the funding given to an organization to which he provides advice.

The book itself is a short (87 pages) pocketbook, but it covers all the major aspects of the history of CO2 in the atmosphere, and discusses how much of a threat it really is, which is not much. He reviews the historical temperature records as well, and discusses their effect on glaciers, storms, seal level and so on. He takes the Al Gore film, "An inconvenient Truth" apart, piece by piece, and refutes the misstatements of fact and the scare tactics used in the film.

Hayden is a Professor of Physics, Emeritus, at the University of Connecticut, so one might expect this to be a college level book. However, it is an easy and informative read for anyone who has taken chemistry and physics in high school, and even for those who have no science background at all. A fine introductory to the skeptic side of the global warming debate.

Regardless of real causes of global warming which are long from clear, the book points out an objective scientific questioning of the "facts" that are being presented as the final true. Very productive line of thinking for whom likes to get to the understanding of reality instead of being brain washed by midia sensationalism.