by Erik Setser

Created on: June 01, 2009

To be honest, the flaws in thinking that increased gas taxes will decrease global warming are so many that it's difficult to decide where to begin. They fall into two basic categories though, misunderstanding of atmospheric nature and misunderstanding of human nature.

The notion that carbon emissions cause global warming is a cart-before-the-horse error, one that has come to be wide spread thanks to misguidance by the likes of Al Gore. The climate of the Earth fluctuates by natural means, as has been indicated by such fluctuations as the global warmth of the Mesozoic Era - from which no evidence of glaciers has been found - followed later by the infamous Ice Age. As a more moderate instance, the Earth experienced something of a Mini Ice Age during the 1600s AD.

Thus, carbon emissions are not causing the warming. Rather, this is occurring on its own. Carbon emissions are still, of course, troublesome, but their being so is caused by the natural warming rather than vice versa. That is, the warming climate causes them to have a stronger impact on our seas and consequently the atmosphere. Still, reducing these emissions, as with reducing fossil fuel consumption, will do little to stymy the warming of our planet. We just won't be adding as much to an existing problem, even though we're adding relatively little as it is.

This is aside from the fact that the efforts have been against carbon dioxide emissions rather than carbon monoxide emissions. Carbon monoxide is what kills a man who sits in the garage with his car running, waiting for the embrace of death. Carbon dioxide is what we exhale and what plants convert into oxygen. Environmentalists have been trying for years to create a machine that would absorb carbon dioxide emissions while outputting less than they absorb. (Otherwise, what good is it?) Nature already made this machine; it's called a tree. Plant some more and start working on a way to reduce carbon monoxide emissions; those are the bigger problem.

Still, some of the better informed have been making efforts towards absorbing carbon emissions in general, monoxide and dioxide alike. One such effort, as demonstrated on Alan Alda's "Scientific American Frontiers" involves algae pumps wherein the aquatic plant life breaks down the components of the emissions, rendering them harmless and even consumable. Efforts such as these are more what we need to focus our attention upon, if we wish to reduce our contribution to this natural unfortunate phenomenon.

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