The climate change deniers are at it again. Some deny climate change (aka global warning) is happening at all. Other just deny that human activities are a factor or maybe that human activities are a factor but a much smaller factor than volcanoes.

This year it is Mt. Etna that erupted and released millions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, supposedly dwafing the contribution of humans to the atmospheric carbon dioxide. But similar claims have been made for various volcanoes in recent years.

In fact one claim was that a single volcano released thousands of times more carbon dioxide than all human activity in history (see the first link in my list).  Most claims are a bit more modest but still indicate that the volcanic contribution is much larger than the human contribution.

In fact the situation is exactly the opposite with volcanic activity contributing one or 2 percent of the annual total of carbon dioxide emissions. Yes, human activity is important.

Here is a list of links for those who would like to read more on this:

• http://www.snopes.com/volcano-carbon-emissions/
• https://ireadencyclopedias.wordpress.com/2016/03/05/dont-believe-the-mt-etna-co2-meme/
• https://www.climate.gov/news-features/climate-qa/which-emits-more-carbon-dioxide-volcanoes-or-human-activities
• https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/earthtalks-volcanoes-or-humans/
• http://www.factcheck.org/2010/06/eruption-corruption/
• http://www.salon.com/2014/06/02/neil_degrasse_tyson_destroys_more_climate_myths_yes_were_the_problem/