Dear Editor,

I encourage the rejection of the Copenhagen Treaty. Its premise is flawed. It places burdens on the United States while allowing other industrial countries, like China and India, to remain unrestricted. Even if enacted, the science is inconclusive whether this would cease climate change.

In our country, there are some in Congress who want to pass laws that limit the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. They claim that CO2 is a pollutant. That is a myth and absolutely false. There is no scientific proof that CO2 is a pollutant.

Here’s what I am telling my representatives in Congress:

1. Slow Down: The rush to label CO2 as a pollutant or pass cap-and-trade legislation will hurt our nation’s economic recovery

2. Know the Science: There no scientific evidence that CO2 is a pollutant

3. CO2 Has Benefits: Higher CO2 concentrations actually help ecosystems support more plant and animal life.

4. Other Factors Involved: As for the greenhouse effect which warms the earth, CO2 is not even close to being the most important of the greenhouse gases. Most of the greenhouse effect is due to water vapor, which is about 30 times as abundant in the atmosphere as CO2 and has a much larger greenhouse effect.

5. CO2 is Green: More importantly, it has been proven that higher levels of CO2 result in more plant growth as well as less water being required for plants to grow faster and larger.

6. CO2 Supports Life: While CO2 accounts for less than one percent of the atmosphere, CO2 is essential to life on earth. In fact, we all exhale CO2 and enjoy it in our carbonated beverages.

thank you

Sincerely,

Richard Barnes

Prattville