CO2 emissions, even if stopped completely today, would
continue to warm the globe for 1,000 years.
In a rather startling study, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientists stake the claim that even if it were possible to stop all pollutants from entering the atmosphere from here forward, the damage caused by them is done – and will continue to be done for 1,000 years. Study author Susan Solomon and her colleagues paint a bleak outlook for the future if manmade climate change is true.
Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences said that while the damaging effects of some pollutants such as methane and nitrous oxide can be reversed in the short term, that isn’t the case with carbon dioxide (CO2). The authors say that CO2 emissions are set to “irreversibly change the planet” and there is “no going back.” Oceans are currently absorbing much of the planet’s heat as well as the excess CO2 and at some point both the heat and CO2 will be released into the atmosphere. That process will last for hundreds of years according to Solomon.
People have imagined that if we stopped emitting carbon dioxide that the climate would go back to normal in 100 years or 200 years. What we're showing here is that's not right. It's essentially an irreversible change that will last for more than a thousand years.
- Susan Solomon, NOAA Scientist
The end result of this is that sea levels will rise and rainfall will change in certain areas.
As the sea levels rise, they would cause “irreversible commitments to future changes in the geography of the Earth, since many coastal and island features would ultimately become submerged.”
The U.S. southwest and the Mediterranean are mentioned as being at the greatest risk and having the potential to be turned into dust bowls. Other regional impacts include ones we might expect to be concerned with including decreased water supplies, expanding deserts and drier conditions thus resulting in more frequent fires.
Besides Solomon, the study’s authors are Gian-Kasper Plattner and Reto Knutti of ETH Zurich, Switzerland, and Pierre Friedlingstein of Institut Pierre Simon Laplace, Gif-Sur-Yvette, France.
The picture certainly appears bleak. Former Vice President Al Gore discussed these issues yesterday in a hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and presented his recommendations to start the earth back on a path of healing. Below is a video of Al Gore’s opening comments. Click here for a video playlist of the entire hearing.
Comments
and other scientists say that focusing on CO2 emissions with regard to climate is like having a car that's not running right, ignoring the engine, transmission, fuel system etc and focusing on the third thread of one of the lug nuts on the right rear tire.
Al Gore has bet his legacy on global warming due to CO2 emissions by humans. I predict he and his Kool-Aid drinking followers are going to look pretty silly ten years from now.
Certainly one does have to wonder how much of an effect CO2 has. It makes up a mere 41 hundredths of one percent of the atmosphere so it is tough to see how that can make a big difference.
I still think it can't be bad to plant more trees?
I do all my searches on www.treehoo.com, it's a green search engine that plants trees for their profit.
save the trees
The people that wrote this article are morons. There is nothing mankind can do that will adversely affect the climate of the planet. Not to say that we shouldn't behave responsibly, but look at the facts. 30 years ago, everyone knew we were headed towards another ice age. The truth is, no one has a &%$#ing clue. Global warming is a hoax. Idiots like Al Gore use it as a scare tactic to push their own political B.S. What does Al Gore say this year? Colder weather is a result of people driving less. That's great news! All we need to do now is tax gas more so people drive less! Great idea! Sit down Al Gore, you are a total loser. John Coleman is my hero, someone buy that man a beer.
Carbon dioxide is plant food. And Don J. Easterbrook, Ph.D., emeritus professor of geology at Western Washington University, asked, "What does it take to ignore 10 years of global cooling, sharply declining temperatures the last couple of years, record setting lack of sun spots . . . failure of computer models to predict real climate, predictable warming and cooling climates for the past 500 years. The answer is really quite simple — just follow the money!"
If these jerks are government employees, they are committing treason ans should be taken out and shot. They will do as much damage to our country and the world as Hitler's German supremacists.
Interesting, thank you Tony! // CC
What is irreversible is the shrill lust Susan Solomon has for other peoples money to fund her stupidity and keep her employed (and in the headlines). Global Warming is the greatest SCAM in world history.
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