BBC gets it right on Volcanoes
December 28, 2010
I heard it just a few weeks ago in a Q and A session. ‘Volcanoes release way more co2 than humans.”
Not.
As the commentator above relates, and as the US Geological Survey affirms, humans release 100 times more CO2 annually than all the world’s volcanoes. When you hear this canard, point your denialist friend to the USGS Volcanic Gases and Climate page, where they can read it from the horse’s mouth.
Do the Earth’s volcanoes emit more CO2 than human activities? Research findings indicate that the answer to this frequently asked question is a clear and unequivocal, “No.” Human activities, responsible for some 36,300 million metric tons of CO2emissions in 2008 [Le Quéré et al., 2009], release at least a hundred times more CO2 annually than all the world’s degassing subaerial and submarine volcanoes (Gerlach, 2010).
As far as the recent Icelandic volcanic eruption, USAToday quotes Caspar Ammann of the National Center for Atmospheric Research:
What’s unlikely from the Eyjafjallajökull eruption is any major climate effect, says climate scientist Caspar Ammann of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. “Right now, the magnitude and explosiveness of the Icelandic eruption is not enough to have significant climate effects.”
I touched on this in the video below, where you can see the crock presented in it’s most bald faced, dishonest form, from the “Great Global Warming Swindle” swindle.
and one of my more popular vids, the “Swindle” itself debunked here:
Climate Denial Crock of the Week 
December 28, 2010 at 8:42 pm
Dear Speaker Boehner; Climatecrocks videos will help future historians examine why there are so many climate-change deniers in 2010.
December 29, 2010 at 4:47 am
Actually, Dr Karl is Australian, the show is an Australian show from the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). I know you americans have a problem with accents, but really! 😉
December 29, 2010 at 4:51 am
PS “Volcanoes emit more CO2 than humans” is in one of the crocks trotted out by Australian Denier Ian Plimer in his book “Heaven and Earth — Global Warming: The Missing Science”. Despite facts to the contrary, he has never admitted his mistakes, and continues to be a popular reference and talking head for AGW deniers in Australia.
December 29, 2010 at 4:59 am
They all sound like pirates to me.
December 29, 2010 at 3:00 pm
[…] amount of CO2. Bringing that absurdity to another level, you may even see claims out there that volcanoes release more CO2 than humans. Way […]
December 30, 2010 at 7:29 pm
[…] amount of CO2. Bringing that absurdity to another level, you may even see claims out there that volcanoes release more CO2 than humans. Way […]
January 12, 2012 at 3:01 pm
[…] was that humans are driving global warming. In particular, there’s no way solar activity, volcanic activity, and the El Niño Southern Oscillation are causing the warming. The first chart below says it all. […]