Sanity Check

Could rising carbon dioxide levels actually be changing the chemistry of our blood? A new study makes the startling claim that increasing atmospheric CO₂ could eventually make the atmosphere toxic—but does the evidence really support such a dramatic conclusion?
In this episode, Dr. David Legates takes a critical look at the study behind the headlines. He examines its analysis of more than two decades of U.S. health data, which finds that blood bicarbonate levels increased as atmospheric CO₂ rose, and asks the obvious question: does correlation really mean causation?
Dr. Legates then looks at the basic physiology of carbon dioxide and blood chemistry. Given that the human body constantly produces CO₂ at concentrations vastly higher than those found in the atmosphere, is it actually plausible that a relatively small increase in outdoor CO₂ could produce the changes the researchers claim?
He also examines the study’s reliance on observational data, the many other factors that can affect blood chemistry, and the assumptions involved in projecting a relatively short-term trend fifty years into the future. The result is a useful reminder that an alarming headline is not the same thing as scientific evidence—and that extraordinary claims require more than a correlation and a straight-line projection.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260814235845.htm
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11869-026-01918-5
https://doi.org/10.1111/apha.14066

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What does it look like to approach climate, water, economics, and environmental questions from a Biblical perspective? In this episode, Dr. David Legates introduces the Cornwall Alliance’s growing catalog of online courses, designed to equip Christians with the scientific, economic, and theological knowledge needed to engage today’s environmental debates with confidence.
Dr. Legates highlights two courses currently available: Basic Climate Science, which explores the fundamental processes that shape the Earth’s climate and challenges the notion that the climate system is fragile and easily driven toward catastrophe, and Modern Water Management: Systems, Policy, and Human Needs, which examines the complex relationship between human societies and water, including questions of supply, policy, economics, and resource management.
These courses are part of the Cornwall Alliance’s broader effort to help Christians understand God’s creation more deeply and think carefully about environmental and economic issues in light of Scripture, sound science, and sound economics.
Explore the courses and learn more at cornwallalliance.org/courses.
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Our work is entirely supported by donations from people like you. If you benefit from our work and would like to partner with us, please visit www.cornwallalliance.org/donate.

In this episode, Dr. David Legates examines the growing legal battle over “citizen suits” and who has the authority to enforce federal environmental law. The Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Safe Drinking Water Act all gave private citizens and organizations the ability to sue when they believed environmental laws were being violated. For decades, these provisions have allowed environmental groups to challenge companies and government agencies in court. But critics argue that citizen suits have increasingly become a mechanism for influencing federal policy outside the normal democratic and regulatory process.

Now, the Trump Administration is pushing back, arguing that the Constitution places responsibility for enforcing federal law with the Executive Branch and that private advocacy groups should not be able to dictate national policy through litigation. The Justice Department recently intervened in a citizen suit involving an artificial-intelligence facility, arguing that private litigants should not be able to use environmental law to undermine national energy and technology priorities.

So, are these actions an unconstitutional restriction of citizens’ rights, or an effort to restore the separation of powers and prevent “regulation through litigation”?

Dr. Legates examines the history of citizen-suit provisions, the controversial practice of “sue and settle,” the constitutional arguments surrounding executive enforcement authority, and the increasingly important question of whether unelected advocacy organizations should be able to shape federal policy through the courts. The issue may ultimately make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

This episode is an update to our earlier discussion, “Sue and Settle,” and asks a fundamental question about American government: When Congress passes a law, who should ultimately decide how that law is enforced—the Executive Branch, or private citizens and advocacy groups?

https://theconversation.com/trump-administration-moves-to-block-public-from-enforcing-environmental-protection-laws-288687
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/7604
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/texas-senate-passes-bill-curbs-abortion-pills-mailing-into-state/
https://fedsoc.org/events/citizen-suits-separation-of-powers-and-the-future-of-the-supreme-court-s-standing-jurisprudence
https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1446141/dl?inline

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Europe has been warming significantly faster than the global average, and this summer’s heatwaves once again prompted politicians and environmental activists to point to fossil-fuel emissions as the obvious culprit. In this episode, Dr. David Legates examines a new study that suggests there is another important piece of the story: Europe’s remarkable success in reducing air pollution.

Since 1980, Europe has dramatically reduced sulfur dioxide and other aerosol emissions. Those pollutants brought serious health and environmental costs, but some of them also reflected sunlight and increased cloud reflectivity, producing a cooling effect. As Europe cleaned up its air, that cooling influence diminished. The new research suggests that the resulting changes may have contributed not only directly to regional warming, but also indirectly by altering atmospheric circulation patterns that favor persistent summer heat and heatwaves.

So, could one of the reasons Europe has warmed so rapidly be that Europeans successfully eliminated some of the pollution that had been keeping temperatures down?

In this episode, Dr. Legates examines the new study, the science of aerosols, Europe’s dramatic decline in sulfur emissions, the difference between weather and climate, and what this complicated story means for the way we talk about climate change. We also consider a question that environmental policy rarely acknowledges: what happens when solving one environmental problem changes another part of the climate system in an unexpected way?
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2026GL122424
https://www.nationalreview.com/news/european-heat-wave-driven-by-cleaner-air-u-k-climate-office-study-finds/
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/07/22/heatwaves-caused-by-fall-in-pollution/

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Episode Description
El Niño has returned, and forecasters around the world are watching closely.
In this episode, Dr. David Legates explains what El Niño is, why the tropical Pacific Ocean is warming, and what scientists expect as the 2026 event continues to develop. He explores how El Niño influences weather patterns around the globe, from rainfall in the southern United States to hurricane activity in the Atlantic and drought risks in Australia.
Drawing on decades of climatological research, Dr. Legates also examines the limits of seasonal forecasting. While El Niño can shift the odds of certain weather patterns, it does not guarantee specific outcomes. Every event is different, and Earth's climate is shaped by a complex interaction of oceanic and atmospheric processes that extend far beyond a single climate pattern.
Join Dr. David Legates for an accessible look at one of Earth's most influential climate phenomena and discover what the developing 2026 El Niño may—and may not—have in store.
https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/enso_advisory/ensodisc.shtml
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0252-6
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/weather/2026/07/22/super-el-nino-atlantic-la-nina-hurricane-weather-forecast/91005872007/

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Our work is entirely supported by donations from people like you. If you benefit from our work and would like to partner with us, please visit www.cornwallalliance.org/donate.