Technocrat

Already too late for CO2 levels?

zogger
Sat Nov 29 17:38:00 -0800 2008
Environment.
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Some climate researchers-heavy in the global warming camp-are making the case that it is already too late to do much of anything about the long term effects of increased atmospheric CO2. They say what we have now will lead to greatly increased overall planetary warming and the effects could last thousands of years, because the oceans are near saturation point of how much more CO2 they can absorb.

But one of the main researchers - Professor David Archer of Chicago University - warns that "the climatic impacts of releasing fossil fuel carbon dioxide into the atmosphere will last longer than Stonehenge, longer than time capsules, far longer than the age of human civilisation so far. Ultimate recovery takes place on timescales of hundreds of thousands of years, a geologic longevity typically associated in public perceptions with nuclear waste." ed.z.: well...gee. Let's hope he is wrong. And with that said, this could backfire, statements like that. If this gets wider public dissemination, it could lead to something like this: "no matter what we do now, we are still en-screwed for the next zillion years, so heck with it, burn it all up!"

Already too late for CO2 levels?
Spider
Sat Nov 29 22:38:15 -0800 2008
 manage

I agree that this could be a dangerous statement to make. Where there is hope there is a way. Take away that hope and who will bother to look for a way. 

Scientists have said the oceans absorb a lot of CO2 for many years but as yet the oceans have not "started to fizz" because of too much CO2.  I think it is only over recent years that serious measurements of ocean absorption of CO2 have been taken and I would be interested to know exactly how these measurements are taken so they can confidently say the oceans have reached CO2 saturation point compared to when?

Plant more trees.

Already too late for CO2 levels?
President4242
Mon Dec 01 09:20:06 -0800 2008
 manage

Or maybe, in this case, plant more kelp.

Already too late for CO2 levels?
Frank Ch. Eigler
Sun Nov 30 10:27:17 -0800 2008
 manage

And with that said, this could backfire, statements like that.

Well, it could do little worse than the last two decades' verbatim replayed warnings that there's "only one decade left." to change our ways, Or Else (tm).

Maybe some areas of scientific discourse are in a race with journalism to the bottom of respectibility -- where emphasizing shock value to attract eyeballs has become the s.o.p.

Already too late for CO2 levels?
Paul Jackson
Wed Dec 03 20:33:14 -0800 2008
 manage

Even if CO2 doesn't cause any significant global climate change, we're almost half way to suffocating people, so we're going to have to do something.

 

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