Re: Climategate
Yeah, for me, the whole impetus for environmentalism would have to come from actual benefit to humanity... I don't quite get "save the environment because it's there." However, very obviously there are some cases where pollution is very definitely an indirect way of somebody profiting off of harming someone else. Things that come to mind in this respect are, for instance, acid rain allowing a utility company to make big profits on electricity, at the expense of causing property damage to those within a few miles. (or for a more defined instance, the cause of the famous Hinkley v. Pacific Gas & Electric case)
That's one of my main concerns with the focus on CO2... It draws attention, as well as funding, away from numerous pollutants that have FAR better-understood, and far more directly harmful effects.
Plus, while CO2 *IS* a greenhouse gas, so is water. And both are the most basic results of the extraction of energy from carbon-based fuel. (be it burning coal, oil, gas, or organisms using cellular respiration to get energy from food) At the most basic example, 1 part methane (CH4) plus two parts oxygen (O2) equals two parts water (H20) and one part carbon dioxide. (CO2) There is no way for the process of consuming these fuels that does NOT immediately produce both water and carbon dioxide; no matter the compound, the hydrogen will bond with oxygen to become water, and the carbon will bond with oxygen to form carbon dioxide.