Published: Sunday, November 29, 2009
CLIMATE CHANGE
Only question is how we will cope
According to The Washington Post, “The percentage of Americans who believe global warming is happening has dipped from 80 percent to 72 percent.”
It is human nature to deny the unthinkable, especially our own extinction. The December issue of National Geographic presents facts about climate change that speak of human extinction (or at least population crash) as a very real possibility. It turns out that the flow of atmospheric CO2 behaves the same as water leaving a spigot and draining out of a bathtub.
If the inflow of CO2 is faster than the outflow, levels of CO2 will rise. Pre-industrial CO2 levels were about 270 ppm. In two centuries we have seen CO2 levels rise to 385 ppm today and levels are rising at 2 to 3 ppm per year. Levels are rising because biological processes remove less than half the CO2 generated by humans per year. Nearly all the rest is absorbed by our oceans, making our oceans gradually more acidic. It takes two to three centuries for oceans to cycle CO2 into cold deep ocean water in the Arctic and Antarctic.
The chilling conclusion of the article: even if we humans steadily reduce our annual production of CO2 by 80 percent in 2050, atmospheric levels of CO2 will reach 450 ppm — a level nearly 25 percent higher than the 350 ppm safe level recommended by many geochemists. So the question is not whether we are experiencing climate change but how we will cope and maintain our humanity as we experience a deteriorating climate.
Eric Teegarden
Brier
It is human nature to deny the unthinkable, especially our own extinction. The December issue of National Geographic presents facts about climate change that speak of human extinction (or at least population crash) as a very real possibility. It turns out that the flow of atmospheric CO2 behaves the same as water leaving a spigot and draining out of a bathtub.
If the inflow of CO2 is faster than the outflow, levels of CO2 will rise. Pre-industrial CO2 levels were about 270 ppm. In two centuries we have seen CO2 levels rise to 385 ppm today and levels are rising at 2 to 3 ppm per year. Levels are rising because biological processes remove less than half the CO2 generated by humans per year. Nearly all the rest is absorbed by our oceans, making our oceans gradually more acidic. It takes two to three centuries for oceans to cycle CO2 into cold deep ocean water in the Arctic and Antarctic.
The chilling conclusion of the article: even if we humans steadily reduce our annual production of CO2 by 80 percent in 2050, atmospheric levels of CO2 will reach 450 ppm — a level nearly 25 percent higher than the 350 ppm safe level recommended by many geochemists. So the question is not whether we are experiencing climate change but how we will cope and maintain our humanity as we experience a deteriorating climate.
Eric Teegarden
Brier
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