A Utah politician is angling to prevent his state from regulating greenhouse gas emissions because, he claims, we need more CO 2 in the atmosphere, and not less. Rep. Jerry Anderson (R), who is, troublingly, a former science teacher, stated that plants need the extra carbon dioxide and that he "think[s] we could double the carbon dioxide and not have any adverse effects."

Overwhelming evidence points to greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide among them, as only one of the causes of climate change doing harm to Earth. The Salt Lake Tribune quotes engineering professor Joe Andrade of the University of Utah as saying that concentrations below 1,000 ppm of carbon dioxide might not be toxic to humans, "but it's toxic to the planet."

Anderson proposed preventing the state of Utah from creating standards to keep carbon dioxide at concentrations below 500 parts per million. In defense of the high CO 2 concentrations that Anderson was willing to endure, he trotted out dinosaurs. "Concentrations reached 600 parts per million at the time of the dinosaurs and they did quite well." A dinosaur could not be immediately reached for comment on the planet's air quality or climate many millions of years ago.

According to the Tribune, Anderson's bill was well-received by the committee he presented it to, but it has been placed on hold due to the fact that it would relinquish control of all "natural components of the atmosphere." In the state of Utah this includes radon, which exists in high concentrations, as well as cyanide and xenon, both of which are poisonous to humans.