Rick Santorum: Really Ignorant

Recently, Rick Santorum, presidential candidate of the religious right, had this to say:

I believe the earth gets warmer and I also believe the earth gets cooler, and I think history points out that it does that and that the idea that man, through the production of CO2 -- which is a trace gas in the atmosphere, and the manmade part of that trace gas is itself a trace gas -- is somehow responsible for climate change is, I think, just patently absurd.

Seriously? The either Mr. Santorum is either ignorant of the science behind carbon dioxide's greenhouse effect, or is willfully in denial of the same. Note his accent on what he "believes."

Whether or not greenhouse gasses are the sole responsibility for climate change is not entirely relevant. The fact is, greenhouse gasses trap heat that would have escaped under normal conditions. Heat is energy and it's the energy that is producing climate change. The amount of carbon dioxide gas necessary for this to occur is 350 parts per million (ppm). Sure it's a trace gas, but that is all that is necessary. We are well past 350 ppm, having blown by 380 ppm. Every year tens of millions of tons of new CO2 are pumped into the atmosphere by the burning of fossil fuels. This has been plenty more than enough over any natural source to attribute this increase in greenhouse gas to humans.

Mr. Santorum thinking this is patently absurd is patently absurd itself. All he does is show willful ignorance of the topic. This tendency itself disqualifies this man.