Carbon dioxide is dangerous and a threat not only to human health but our entire planet. How do we know? The Environmental Protection Agency told us so, officially announcing that carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases are “the primary driver of climate change, which can lead to hotter, longer heat waves that threaten the health of the sick, poor or elderly; increases in ground-level ozone pollution linked to asthma and other respiratory illnesses; as well as other threats to the health and welfare of Americans.” But there’s two important points to make regarding “carbon pollution.” One is that we don’t really know how much carbon dioxide is affecting earth’s temperatures. The second is that we may be underestimating the benefits are carbon dioxide on our planet.

Out of the entire atmospheric makeup, only one to two percent is made up of greenhouse gases with the majority being nitrogen (about 78 percent) and oxygen (about 21 percent). Of that two percent, “planet-killing” carbon dioxide comprises only 3.62 percent while water vapor encompasses 95 percent. And of the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, humans cause only 3.4 percent of annual CO2 emissions. The cause for concern is that carbon dioxide emitted from burning fossil fuels trap heat from the sun, and as the atmosphere heats, it holds more water vapor, produces more high thin clouds and increases the temperature. Climate models predict this positive feedback mechanism is what will eventually doom planet earth.

It’s the magnitude of the feedback climate alarmists warn will lead to doomsday scenarios, but even with all the scientific research, there is little conclusion as to what this magnitude is. Dr. Roy Spencer analyzes satellite data in space and found that there is strong evidence that there is negative feedback, which could cause a cooling effect or negate effects of a positive feedback. In March, Spencer wrote, “But if cloud feedbacks in the climate system are negative, then the climate system does not particularly care how much you drive your SUV. This is an issue of obvious importance to global warming research. Even the IPCC has admitted that cloud feedbacks remain the largest source of uncertainty in predicting global warming.”

The other issue is: What happens if we find out carbon dioxide is not a pollutant that has significant effects on global temperature and once we spend trillions of dollars to regulate it, and it disrupts the CO2 vital for plant and marine life? One lesson everyone learned in his or her third grade science class is that carbon dioxide is a critical part of photosynthesis.

A new, pending 501c3 organization emerged called Plants Need CO2 with its missing being “to educate the public on the positive effects of additional atmospheric CO2 and help prevent the inadvertent negative impact to human, plant and animal life if we reduce CO2.” Some of its educational resources include:

More CO2 Means More Plant Growth
Rising CO2 Boosts Plant Water Use Efficiency
Elevated CO2 Helps Plants Cope With Low Levels of Essential Resources
Elevated CO2 Helps Plants Survive Environmental Stresses

In fact, a new study released in the journal Global Change Biology found that “levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide during the past 50 years have boosted aspen growth rates by an astonishing 50 percent.” (h/t Anthony Watts)

The idea that man can change the climate behind command and control carbon dioxide regulations is nothing more than arrogance and conceit. To think that “man is able to shape the world around him according to his wishes” is what F.A. Hayek coined the “fatal conceit.”