Comment Re:350ppm (Score 1) 696
This is an animated synthesis of global CO2 measurements, with some historical records added afterwards:
This is an animated synthesis of global CO2 measurements, with some historical records added afterwards:
CO2 levels are monitored all over the globe:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vA7tfz3k_9A
and they are trending up everywhere. And they're much higher than they have been for at least 800,000 years.
Ice levels at the north pole are shrinking, but Antarctic ice levels are setting new records highs. There has been zero net change globally.
Glaciologists appear to disagree: http://climatecrocks.com/2012/11/08/new-video-antarctic-versus-arctic-ice-apples-and-oranges/.
Humans contribute 2% of greenhouse gas emissions globally.*
This page does not address the relative amounts of natural and human-caused greenhouse gas emissions.
The 2% figure occurs in the pie diagram showing different types of greenhouse gases, all of them expelled into the atmosphere by human activities, of which the hydrofluorocarbons (HFC's) and related synthetic compounds make up 2%. The 2% figure is repeated below figure 4 for "human-made gases", but this appears to be a rather ill-chosen way of indicated that these compounds do not occur naturally at all, while the other greenhouse gases in the pie chart also have natural sources. But again, the entire page only talks about the composition of man-made greenhouse emissions, and does not make any claims how big these are compared to gases emitted by natural processes.
I have been looking for more information on the relative contributions of natural and artificial CO2 emissions. So far the most succinct description I found is this: "How do human CO2 emissions compare to natural CO2 emissions?".
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it." - Bert Lantz