Òclimatologist argues that todayÕs carbon dioxide levels are already dangerously too high.Ó
Michael D. Lemonick
Earth Supplement of Scientific American, 2008: 18:4. Pp. 60-67.
Global warming will be more severe than predicted
Òthe atmosphere—by burning Émillions of tons of oil, coal, and natural gas—will make it warm up.Ó
350 ppm is the target level to reduce CO2 levels to ( Now 388 ppm 1) Òto preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted.Ó
pp. 60-61.
ÒThe situation he [Hansen] says Ôis much more sensitive than we had implicitly been assuming.Ó
The world's people are headed for a doubling of CO2 levels in a century if nothing is done to reduce hot house gases, or 770 ppm and we are increasing our pollution at the rate of nearly 2 percent per annum.
pp. 62-65.
"My advice to those who wish to learn the art of scientific prophecy is not to rely on abstract
reason, but to decipher the secret language of Nature from Nature's documents: the facts of experience."- Max Born, (early 20th century German physicist)
December 3, 2008
U.S. greenhouse gas emissions rose 1.4 percent in '07
By Timothy Gardner
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. emissions of gases blamed for warming the planet rose 1.4 percent last year as acute weather pushed consumers to crank up heaters and air conditioners and cut output from hydropower generation, the federal Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.
. . .
U.S. emissions last year were about 16.7 percent above 1990 levels, or a rise of 1.7 percentage points from 2006, the EIA said.
The rise in the pollution level made President elect Barack Obama's goal of cutting U.S. greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 more ambitious. Obama also wants to cut emissions in the United States, the world's top greenhouse gas polluter after China, 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050.
U.S. greenhouse gases last year rose to 7.282 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, mostly on a rise in emissions from the burning of fossil fuels, the EIA said.
Note:
May, 2013 the level is now 399+ p.p.m.
