In the 1998 Avengers movie, Sean Connery plays an extortionist who says at one point “The weather is no longer in God’s hands… it’s in mine.” Water vapor is the biggest greenhouse gas by volume, bigger even than carbon dioxide, and so must have a tremendous impact on weather. Yet the Environmental Protection Agency did not identify water vapor as a health hazard. Here is the statement from the EPA website:
Why no water vapor? Isn’t the biggest natural greenhouse gas worth worrying about too? Doesn’t water vapor threaten our environment like other greenhouse gases? I’ve read that only about 5% of total worldwide CO2 emissions are from human sources. Wouldn’t it make sense to protect the climate from the largest source of greenhouse gas?
Shouldn’t the government establish a Weather Lord Master or Cloud Czar to calm the seas, still the wind, and stop the rain? All at taxpayer expense of course.
Enough sarcasm. I think this EPA finding is itself dangerous. If EPA follows this ruling with regulations it will likely add billions to the cost of doing business and to the expenses of anyone who uses electricity or transportation. Even if CO2 emissions were eliminated in the United States tomorrow morning, wouldn’t China, Mexico, Canada, Great Britain, Japan, India, etc. continue their contributions to the 5% of total CO2 emissions? Exacly by how much do we want to reduce greenhouse gases, and at what cost?
