"I cannot buy the rhetoric around CO2 being the cause of any planetary warming" 

No one is asking anyone to "buy the rhetoric", understand the basic science yes, rhetoric no. There is an abundance of good accessible information on the science of climate change, you've never looked? The basic science of climate change is as solid as any science out there, the climate denial movement has been very effective in using rhetoric to spread disinformation and outright lies. Read the basic science, here's a start at NASA: Climate change: How do we know? 
https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/
Inform yourself !