Do Nitrogen or Oxygen Absorb Infrared Photons?

The prevailing theory is that surface radiation is trapped by “greenhouse gases” disproportionately, but that theory does not stand up. Is radiation from the surface only stored by “greenhouse gas” molecules? The answer is no, both N2 and O2 also absorb and radiate in the infrared spectrum, as NIST (US’s National Institute of Standards and Technology) data shows here, and here, as well as through increased molecular velocities. 

It appears as though many climate scientists subscribe to the Ritz-Carlton theory of conferences, rather than the Rydberg–Ritz combination principle. The latter explains that radiation is absorbed and emitted also by combinations of level energies/wavelengths. 

When we start to ask about thermal energy storage, as in specific heat capacity, we see that CO2 does not actually vibrate to instigate additional storage of thermal energy until it reaches very high pressures, as discussed in this paper, so high that they are not natural on our planet’s atmosphere. Vibrations of molecules as degrees of freedom for energy storage depend upon pressure and temperature, and in general vibrations are not the primary degrees of freedom for energy storage in atmospheric gases at all, as that occurs primarily in translations and rotations—the velocities of molecules, as per the long-prevailing Kinetic Theory of Gases. 

We should ask, “if CO2 is not responsible for warming, what may be the cause?” To be frank, that is pretty obvious: the Sun drives the Earth’s climate, not the composition of the atmosphere.