Not all climate scientists support the IPCC’s hostility towards nitrous oxide.“Nitrous Oxide and Climate” provides us with an exhaustive and precise look at the role of nitrogen in climate. Here are some key points:
- One additional molecule N2O of the GHG nitrous oxide raises the temperature about 233 times more than one additional CO2 molecule;
- The concentration of CO2 is increasing about 3,100 times faster than that of N2O;
- Therefore, the global emission of N2O warms the planet at about 1/13 the contribution of CO2, 0.064℃/century or 0.00064℃/year.
Canada contributes about 1.4% of global N2O emissions. Therefore, Canada’s N2O produces 0.000009℃/year of global warming (0.00064 x .014 ≃ 0.000009). Please stop and look at that number for a few seconds. It’s so small that it’s meaningless, and yet we are told repeatedly by the media that nitrous oxide emissions are dangerously raising global temperature or threaten to raise global temperature. For economic reasons and because they are good stewards of their land, farmers do their best to ensure that fertilizer is absorbed by plants and not converted into nitrous oxide, etc. It’s called 4Rs: the right source, the right amount, the right time, and the right place.
Methane (CH4)
The current concentration of methane in our atmosphere is about 1931 parts per billion.
You can easily find articles claiming that methane is a threat to our climate. King Charles III is convinced; he backed an entrepreneur with a ₤50,000 prize to further develop a mask for cows that captures methane from their burps. Bizarre? I’ll leave it up to you.Is methane so great a threat to our climate that we need to put masks on cows?Once again, “Nitrous Oxide and Climate” suggests otherwise. Here are some key points:
- One additional molecule of CH4 raises the temperature about 31 times more than one additional CO2molecule;
- The concentration of CO2 is increasing about 300 times faster than that of CH4;
- Therefore, CH4 warms the planet at 1/10 the contribution of CO2.
Therefore, Canada’s methane contributes about 0.000009 ℃/ year to global warming. (Relative forcing of CH4/N2O = 8.3/6.2=1.29, see table 4 here; Canada contributes 1.1% of global CH4; 0.00064 x 1.29 x .011 ≃ 0.000009)
So, do cows need masks? Of course not!
Therefore, Canada’s ag sector contributes about 0.00002℃/year to global warming (0.000009 x 2 ≃ 0.00002). Once again, please take a few seconds to see how small that figure is.
However, World Economic Forum member Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his zealous Minister of Environment and Climate Change are determined to drive the nation’s agriculture sector into the ditch with Net Zero to avoid 0.00002℃/year of warming. They either don’t understand these facts, or if they do, they are pursuing Net Zero for other reasons. You be the judge of that.Farmers are unsung heroes. What would happen to urban centers like Toronto without a continuous supply of food? Chaos and hardship, maybe even violence. We need farmers, and they need our help.
In response to Net Zero, the approach by the agricultural sector so far has been fragmented and defensive. The Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario has about 4,000 members. Director John Van Dyk explained to me that farmers are not speaking with one voice on this issue.
A Fertilizer Canada press release stated that “Canada must balance its fertilizer emission reduction goals with the need to increase vital food production.”
With the information presented here, the agricultural sector could argue that no reductions at all are justified. Period.It won’t be easy to stop Net Zero. It is undergirded by a complicated and extensive web of relationships–personal, political, and financial.
But it’s more than that; it’s an ideology. The recently released film Climate the Movie demonstrates that Net Zero is big business and a sophisticated scam that will transfer trillions of dollars into the hands of green sector investors. Nobody else will benefit, certainly not farmers. Our climate will not benefit.Be prepared for a long, tough struggle.
Independent media and journalists will be needed to defeat Net Zero. Ordinary citizens, including farmers, need to speak up as well. According the 2016 census, Canada had 271,935 farmers. Even if a fraction of them spoke with one voice on this issue, that would represent a lot of clout.
Canada’s Net Zero threatens our agricultural sector and consequently our food supply; Net Zero is unsupported by science, it will waste billions of tax dollars, and it should be cancelled.
