We certainly are seeing some mixed messages on CO2 out there, so what are we to think?

Today I see that trees and greener neighborhoods lead to healthier and longer lives, and more CO2, a clear, innocuous, non-pollutant gas, certainly helps these trees grow, so CO2 is good.

Plant another tree: Living in greener neighborhoods linked to lower risk of heart disease 

According to a recent study, people who live in leafy, green neighborhoods are at a lower risk of developing heart diseases and strokes.  

This fall, we also see that there are record yields on crops.  Thank goodness for CO2.  

USDA Forecasts Record High Corn Yield and Soybean Production for 2018

U.S. farmers are expected to produce a record-high soybean crop this year, according to the Crop Production report issued today by the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service.  Up 4 percent from 2017, soybean production is forecast at record high 4.59 billion bushels, while corn growers are expected to decrease their production slightly from last year, forecast at 14.6 billion bushels.

But then, yesterday, there was a dire forecast, because CO2 is rising again.  Something you will not see in this or most articles is what the actual temperature is or what it would be if CO2 were lower, so understand that they just want to scare us.

CO2 emissions up 2.7%, world 'off course' to curb warming: study

Global emissions of carbon dioxide mainly from fossil fuel burning will rise 2.7 percent in 2018, scientists said Wednesday, signalling a world "completely off course" in the fight against climate change. 

Last year, CO2 pollution increased by 1.6 percent after a three-year hiatus that raised hopes manmade greenhouse gas emissions had finally peaked despite an expanding world economy.

Now comes a report that looks ahead more than 70 years and says there will be 2,000 premature deaths in the Midwest.  My guess is that that small number was pulled out of a hat or a computer.

Climate change will severely affect US economy, particularly in Midwest

The report predicts the Midwest will be largely impacted by increased temperatures, resulting in 2,000 premature deaths by 2090.

Meanwhile, in 2017, there were 50,100 premature deaths in Wales and England alone from excess cold.  How many premature deaths occurred elsewhere in 2017 because of excess cold?  Somehow, the media will go bonkers about 2,000 projected deaths in 2090 because of computer-generated models, but there is little reporting on actual deaths. 

Life expectancy before fossil fuels was around 50, and today, it is around 80, so how many millions of people do not die prematurely each year because of fossil fuels?  Why don't the media focus on the increased quality and length of life because of fossil fuels instead of a computer model predicting a small number of deaths because of rising CO2? 

Less than twenty years ago, we were told falsely that we would have snowless winters.  This week there appears to be a record snowstorm going across the South and we are having very cold weather throughout the U.S.  Why don't the predictors of doom and gloom ever have to explain why they have been so wrong before, and why we should believe them now?

Headline 2000: "Snowfalls are now just a thing of the past"

On March 20, 2000, The Independent, a British newspaper, reported that "Snowfalls are just a thing of the past."  Global warming was simply making the UK too warm for heavy snowfalls.  The column quotes Dr. David Viner of the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia – yes, the epicenter of what would become the Climategate scandal – as saying that within a few years snowfall will become "a very rare and exciting event."  Indeed, Viner opined, "Children just aren't going to know what snow is."

Whenever we get these dire predictions of doom and gloom that we are all going to die if we don't hand trillions to government bureaucrats, just go back and read the following predictions of the past and understand that they don't have a clue about what causes climate change and that they just want the government to control our lives.

Image credit: Pixabay.