I don't know the exact number. However I have read Mt St Helens put more CO2 into the atmosphere in one day than man has in his entire history. Have also read sea algae consumes the bulk of CO2.

What a great post. A well written and clever comparison to Reardon Metel. Fracking has indeed been demonized by the progressive left as is most everything to do with fossil fuels. I find it wonderful and highly efficient to be able to squeeze out that black gold.

Nice point. Everyone who has seen glaciers and fiords up close and personal knows this to be true.

Your point needs to explained to many more people. Also as a glacier recedes the land explodes with life. An advancing glacier kills everything in its path.

I enjoyed the article. The anti-shale arguments aren't exactly the same as the arguments against Rearden Metal. First they said the metal was no good. Then they said it was so good it was a disruptive technology that needed to be managed.

My understanding of the anti-shale argument is that extracting it might inflict costs on other people. We know (deniers excepted) that burning stuff in general creates a long-term cost on the environment. So they're saying our priority should be energy that doesn't involve carbon emissions or finding some way to deal with the effects of carbon emissions.

I do see the parallels though. A progressive group tried to get me sign a petition opposing cap-and-trade in favor of hard emission limits. That means they were saying know matter what the benefits of activities that emit carbon, they want to stop them. That seems absurd b/c if the benefits are big enough we can use that wealth to clean up the environment.

Great article. Thanks for posting it.

Well worth the read!

What is the ratio of human-produced CO2 versus naturally (volcanoes, etc) produced CO2?

I hope it turns out to be like fat being bad for you. The scientific consensus was that within reason the less fat in your diet the better. It turns out to be false, or at least more complicated than that. I always hope that by some chance a scientific fact that I wish were false surprisingly turns out to be false. In science, though, I'm always aware that we have a hard time being objective about claims we really wish to true or false.

Denier label not denied but still found offensive.
Carbon dioxide increases agricultural productivity. It has no deleterious effects. It does not cause 'global warming' to any measurable amount. It is about 400ppm of the atmosphere. No upper limit for safety has been accurately postulated, perhaps several thousand ppm.
The earth appears to be entering a cooling phase.

I agree with his opinion as he compares Shale Gas to the negative public reaction to Rearden Metal before the first run of the John Galt Line. But in my mind I have always compared fracking to Wyatt and his ability to squeeze the oil out in Colorado.