Cogito Ergo Non Serviam

Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Tops 400 PPM

The US government announced earlier today that the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has topped 400 parts per million [ppm] for the first time in three to five million years. The Earth System Research Laboratory, a facility on Mauna Loa belonging to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said yesterday's daily average measurement was 400.03. In 1958, that figure was 315 parts per million. This is not good.

Since homo sapiens started burning things to keep warm and cook food, they have been putting carbon dioxide into the air. When there were only a few million of them, that didn't amount to much. Now that there are 7 billion and counting, many of whom live in fossil-fuel burning rich countries, the game is different. This journal has maintained for some time that greenhouse gases from human activity have altered the climate so much that it cannot be undone; the best mankind can do is halt further damage and adapt to what cannot be altered.

Even if one denies that climate change is homogenic, one cannot deny that carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, nor can one deny that a 30% increase in half a century is a substantial change. At some stage, the amount of carbon dioxide in the air will change things even if it hasn't yet. Under this view, it isn't too late, but the clock is ticking.

There is nothing special about the 400 level in physics or meteorology. But nice round numbers are convenient milestones, and this is one that humanity probably will regret passing. Dr. James Butler who is top man at the Mauna Loa facility said, "Probably next year, or the year after that, the average yearly reading will pass 400ppm. A couple of years after that, the South Pole will have readings of 400ppm, and in eight to nine years we will probably have seen the last CO2 reading under 400ppm."

More greenhouse gases in the atmosphere will result in less heat radiating out into space. They act like a blanket. The Earth will warm, and that means more violent weather (including nastier winter storms as well as hotter summers, local floods and droughts). Bangladesh, southern Florida and other low lying areas may well wind up under water in a few decades. That is going to mean people being forced from their homes and livelihoods. That is a political problem that will require a great deal of money and creativity to resolve. Otherwise, modern-day humans will resolve the matter they way their ancestors did -- violently.

© Copyright 2013 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.



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