The American Chemical Society's Promotion of Climate Change Control

In the March 17 issue of Chemical Engineering News, there is a dual editorial on climate change. The editorialists are Jerry a Bell and Bassm Shakhashiri. Bell is an emeritus professor of Simmons College. Shakhashiri was ACS president in 2012. Neither one seems to have given much thought to the science of climate and are shooting from the hip.
They start out with the usual claim of "well-known" greenhouse effect caused by carbon dioxide, methane and others. The implication is that the "others" may be man-made materials, such as halocarbons. They ignore two facts: other gases of the atmosphere, such as nitrogen and oxygen, have a greenhouse effect on Earth's temperature, and the concentration of those gases is much greater than carbon dioxide and methane and thus have a more considerable greenhouse effect.
They go on with the usual fear mongering of melting ice, rising sea levels, and lowering only ocean pH, all of which is man's fault for continuing to burn carbon containing fossil fuels. There's no mention that the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is only 400 ppm. This low concentration can have little effect and is easily reduced by plant absorption in its normal growth pattern.
They say that action to reduce carbon dioxide emissions is needed "now". I would agree, if all they said previously were true, but it is not. We don't need any action now.
They call on the American Chemical Society and other similar organizations to promote more efficient use of lighting and appliances, make greater use of public transportation, drive low emission vehicles, teleconference more, travel less, and support the efforts to mitigate undesirable consequences of climate change. I agree with most of these purely on the basis of efficiency of operation, until we get to low emission vehicles and the mitigation of undesirable consequences of climate change. Since the original assertion of carbon dioxide as a bogeyman is incorrect, there is no need for low CO2 emission vehicles or mitigation of climate change from that source. We will always have climate change and can do nothing to control it, but we can prepare ourselves to reduce damage from this natural event, in the same way that we can protect ourselves from hurricanes and tornadoes.
The editorialists say that the ACS has implemented approaches such as these with construction of its new headquarters building having been awarded a platinum certification by the LEED program of the US Green building Council. This is the usual spin to make one believe something which is not true. I have been personally involved in obtaining for Lubbock Christian University a platinum certification for its new Welcome Center. It was done completely on the basis of efficiency. It had nothing to do with climate change.
They want collective action to impose a carbon tax. This is where the rubber meets the road. A carbon tax would be a brand-new source of revenue for the federal government, which is already being overfunded by taxpayers. The only reason for the promotion of the carbon tax by pseudoscientists is so they can have their share of newly available government money through grants to those same pseudoscientists in universities.
They want the American Chemical Society to promote climate change to its members by communicating the science and affects of climate change. The ACS has been doing this for years. I don't see what more it can do. The interesting thing is that I can't be the result of consideration of science. It is obviously more a political matter involving efforts to obtain control of, or at least involvement with much larger amounts of money. This is the desired measure of power.
Lastly, they want to advocate local, national, and international efforts to reduce the effects of climate change for the benefit of Earth and its people. Well said and noble, but on the wrong track. Forget the carbon dioxide and concentrate on actions necessary to mitigate the negative effects of weather, such as seaside erosion from hurricanes and floods from excessive rainfall.