Climate Change

[Fredk]

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The warmth we feel here on earth, primarily comes from the atmosphere, not the sun. Specifically, infrared emitted from water vapor, carbon dioxide, and methane keep us feeling warm. The higher the concentration of those molecules in the atmopshere, the more infrared that will be emitted, and the warmer it will be.

And where does the energy for those emissions come from?

[xrox]

And where does the energy for those emissions come from?

It comes from the earth's surface. The energy from the earth's surface comes from the sun. The energy from the sun comes from gravitational collapse.

It is like asking "if a battery provides energy, where does the energy from a battery come from? The charger? The grid? The power generator? or the fossil fuel.....etc?

Note, to be thorough, some energy from the sun is absorbed directly by the atmosphere and our skin. However, to understand global warming, you need to look at the atmosphere as an infrared energy source (which it is). A good analogy is water. A warm bath feels warm because of the water molecules, not whatever is providing energy to the water molecules. The water is the source of energy you feel. If you focus on the atmosphere as a source, this lady's explanation makes more sense.The increase in carbon dioxide concentration reduces the ability of our atmosphere to cool itself by emitting infrared into space, leading to a warmer atmosphere near the surface.

[bl8d]

some "We gone Green " braggers are deliberately blowing smoke up your a-hole.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AynNsPs9i80

[Fredk]

It comes from the earth's surface. The energy from the earth's surface comes from the sun. The energy from the sun comes from gravitational collapse.

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Which makes your original simple explanation both incomplete and misleading.

The energy comes from the sun and gets trapped in by greenhouse gasses, a reasonable and accurate analogy for a non-scientific person.

[xrox]

Which makes your original simple explanation both incomplete and misleading.

The energy comes from the sun and gets trapped in by greenhouse gasses, a reasonable and accurate analogy for a non-scientific person.

As my original post was an attempt to mitigate the innacuracies and complexities of the video posted, I don't comptletely disagree with your simple analogy, as it attempts to serve the same purpose. However, while I understand how you want to tie it directly to the sun for it to make sense, in reality CO2 doesn't interact directly with sunlight much at all. And CO2 doesn't "trap" heat or energy.

Also, my explanation is incomplete only in the sense that I haven't included the drop in radiative cooling and temperature equilibrium which fuel global warming. I did this because it is rather confusing for most. That is why a simple analogy that uses the atmosphere as an energy source is both accurate and leads into the full complex explanation well. So I would say it is the opposite of misleading.

A more complete concise explanation (that would confuse most IMO):

As CO2 concentrations rise, the ability of our atmosphere to cool itself down diminishes. This is becaues only the top layers of CO2 are capable of emitting infrared into space. And as CO2 concentration rises, the top layers of CO2 gain altitude and thus cool down, becoming less efficient at emitting infrared.

Again, the atmosphere (CO2...etc) is the source of energy we feel. It is not a filter, does not block or trap heat, does not re-radiate infrared from the sun, and does not act like a blanket or greenhouse.