Global Warming Redux

Today’s (11/7/06) NY Times (in the Science Section) has a very interesting article on global warming. It mentions virtually all the possible reasons for global warming that I have previously documented. And it adds one more – the movement of our solar system within the Milky Way may change the amount of cosmic rays bombarding our earth which, in turn, changes the level of cloud cover and therefore our climate. However, one of the more interesting discussions centers on the levels of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. Robert Rohde of the University of California at Berkeley offers the following chart of carbon dioxide levels in our atmosphere over the last 600 million years --

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Phanerozoic_Carbon_Dioxide.png

-- showing the dramatic drop in levels of this gas. He also was quoted here as saying that “carbon dioxide is just one of the many influences” on our climate. Q.E.D.