Jun 10 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Rob Rogers Billings Gazette, Mont.



Carbon dioxide isn't the problem, it's the answer.

So says Leighton Steward, a retired oil industry geologist who was invited to speak to the public on the Montana State University Billings campus Wednesday night. He's promoting his new book, "Fire, Ice and Paradise," and says more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will help green the planet.

"I started out assuming CO2 was the problem," he said. "But I wasn't finding the technical argument backing that up."

Climate change is real, he said. But it's not caused by carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Heat from the sun and the temperature of the ocean are what cause the planet to heat or cool. Most climate-change cycles last only three or four decades, he said.

 He acknowledges that carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas and traps heat on the planet. But, as a gas, the more CO2 that builds up in the atmosphere, the less heat it can hold, he said. So people shouldn't be concerned about their carbon footprint. More CO2 just helps the plants to grow, he said.

"All we have to do is continue doing what we're doing," he said.

Keep driving and living normal lives, he said.

Steward's speaking tour is sponsored by the Montana Petroleum Association, the Montana Chamber of Commerce and Big Sky Economic Development. He is currently an honorary director of the American Petroleum Institute.

But, he said, he's not speaking to promote the oil industry or to make money.

"I'm not getting a penny" for the speaking engagements, he said.

His goal, he said, is to get the other side of the climate change story out to the public. "The story I'm telling is a good-news story."

 

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