UW Professor Proposes that CO2 is Not Responsible for Global Warming

Research published by University of Waterloo professor Qing-Bin Lu brings forth evidence that humans have an impact on global warming, but not in the way that most people think.  Dr. Lu’s research involved a statistical analysis of ozone depletion, temperature changes, gases and cosmic rays, and found that chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) have been the main cause of global warming from 1950 to 2000.

Dr. Lu, a professor of physics and astronomy, biology and chemistry in the faculty of science, noted that the concentration of CFCs in the atmosphere has been declining since the about year 2000 and since about the year 2002, global temperature has been correspondingly decreasing. Meanwhile, the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO₂) has been steadily increasing.  This led to the following statement in his report publication

“These observations have pointed to the striking possibility that global warming observed in the period of 1950 to 2000 was caused by the significant appearance of CFCs in the atmosphere.” Dr. Lu also noted that the global emissions of CO₂ were on the rise from 1850 to 1970 as part of the Industrial Revolution and yet global temperatures were not affected.  The study makes a link between CFCs and global warming as well as the hole in the ozone layer.

Chlorofluorocarbons are organic compounds that consist of chlorine, fluorine and carbon, commonly known as Freon, produced as a volatile derivative of methane and ethane.  Many CFCs have been used a refrigerants, solvents, and propellants in aerosol applications.  Since the 1970s the use of CFCs has been heavily regulated since the realization of their negative impacts on the ozone layer. The Montreal Protocol was developed in 1987 to decrease the production of CFCs.  A succeeding meeting held in London, England in the year 1990 saw diplomats vote to completely eliminate CFCs by the year 2000.

Dr. Lu’s research is not the first time that someone has come forth with the idea that CO₂ is not the driving force behind global warming.  In November of 2009, Professor Ian Pilmer, a geologist from Adelaide University, also argued that CO₂ was not responsible for global warming.  The professors argument was that CO₂ concentrations in the atmosphere are cyclical and mainly caused by volcanic activity.  In contrast, Dr. Pilmer, Vicky Pope, Head of Climate Change Advice at the Met Office has said that “The basic physics is that if carbon dioxide increases then the temperature goes up.”

Every time I encounter a paper released about climate change I recall what Dr. Ken Oakes once told our class in Biology 150: “Someone requesting funding for the study of the mating patterns of [insert animal] may be hard pressed to find anyone interested, but if that same person were to propose studying the effects of global warming on the mating patterns of [insert animal] then they would have a much easier time.”

Global warming remains a relatively new area of research and it is important that researchers like Dr. Lu fight the temptation to accept the mainstream train of thought, and find the real cause of global warming (if in fact the earth is warming at all).