US scientists report big jump in heat-trapping CO2
Source: AP
US scientists report big jump in heat-trapping CO2
Carbon dioxide levels rose by second highest rate; reaching global warming limits unlikely
WASHINGTON (AP) -- New federal figures show the amount of heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the air jumped dramatically in 2012, making it very unlikely that global warming can be limited to another 2 degrees. Many governments set a 2-degree increase as the upper limit.
Scientists say the rise in CO2 reflects the global economy revving up and burning more fossil fuels, especially in China.
U.S. government scientists report that carbon dioxide levels jumped by 2.67 parts per million for a total of just under 395 parts per million compared to 2011.
That's the second highest rise in carbon emissions since records started being kept in 1959. Only 1998 had a bigger increase.
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Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/us-scientists-report-big-jump-183612249.html
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caseymoz
(5,763 posts). . . and now have to consider minimization and coping.
villager
(26,001 posts)well, until we have a few more "Sandys" and "Katrinas." Alas.
caseymoz
(5,763 posts)Unfortunately, it might get worse very suddenly. And they're just as likely to cover-their-asses about it.
If people survive this, I have to say, Conservatives are going to be remembered very dimly.
SkyDaddy7
(6,045 posts)As "Christian" as America is they will blame the climate on us inadequate humans not worshiping the mythical Jesus like we should have...Considering how bad things will be at this point most will adhere to religion & abandon critical thinking altogether. Not to mention Americans inability to self reflect & learn from past mistakes! Basically, humanity, or at least America, will have to endure a prolonged period of dark decades if not centuries before trying to give rational thinking a shot...If at all.
To me religion is like a virus & as long as a country or group of people are healthy, educated, fed & happy religion/virus has a hard time trying to flourish...However, the weaker the nation or group of people are the stronger the religion/virus becomes.
caseymoz
(5,763 posts)I know it seems like they will. Nation states are mortal, so are religions. I'm talking about the system that follows us, if any. When I say history, I don't mean the short-term. The US likely is not going to survive Climate change, IMHO. Christianity might not survive, or might mutate as a result.
I will also point out that the newest generation is much more secular than the previous ones. Of course, that was true of the US until the 70s. Trends can reverse.
R. Daneel Olivaw
(12,606 posts)They can always find something else to worry about which has holds more weight in the USA: hearings on baseball, Benghazi or protecting the right to bear semi-automatics. 
caseymoz
(5,763 posts)The US is far less likely to survive climate change as people are. Nations tend to create environmental conditions that kill them, and all nation-states are mortal.
villager
(26,001 posts)...from unchecked environmental destruction continues...
There will probably be a mix of separate countries on the North American continent, by century's end...
Javaman
(62,521 posts)huge amounts of money from cutting CO2 output.
PDJane
(10,103 posts)My son won't reach his fourscore and ten. If he and his girlfriend have children, they are liable not to reach their 30th birthday. We are a stupid race.
caseymoz
(5,763 posts)Come what may. I'm sorry to deliver that news. It's apparent that nation-states and corporations are not adapted to deal with this kind of problem. This isn't just true in the US. It's true of the Chinese, the Europeans, the South Americans, in any of the social systems found, everybody on earth. And one country or company cutting emissions will do nothing because another will just step in and take up the slack due to competitive incentives.
We don't have the social infrastructure to cut emissions significantly. Only under environmental pressure (such as rising seas and temperatures) will such infrastructure evolve, and it's going to take a while to build the infrastructure, as in decades or centuries.
The time to be ready was in the '80s, when instead, we elected Reagan, when Carter gave the true assessment of the issue. Why? Because people wouldn't accept the news.
It's one of those problems where it's easy to see what needs to be done, but seeing it is the easy part. If your playing game like Civilization and you're the one making and enforcing all the decisions, it's easy. Socially communicating it and organizing the response: that's the super-genius part. You can't underestimate that.
That's my assessment, I want to make that clear. No, your children might not make it to their 30th birthday. Then again, we don't know everything, maybe they will. Maybe they can adapt. Definitely the world in 2050 is going to be unrecognizable, and likely very harsh.
It's like the SF novel, minus the entertainment.
AverageJoe90
(10,745 posts)That's a bit of an exaggeration, dont'cha think? Nobody's denying that global warming is presenting many challenges that we need to face, but the world isn't going to be quite unrecognizable OR very harsh in 2050(at least not for most of those who aren't already on the edges).....although, it can be admitted that 2150 might be a very different story altogether depending on how we act.
caseymoz
(5,763 posts)As glaciers and permafrost melt, and the methane trapped within gets released, the change may be very extreme.
This means trouble for agriculture are going to get extreme. If there's another year of drought in the US like last year's, I'm afraid we might see problems in the food supply.
Then, along with Global Warming, there are environmental problems that aren't even on anybody's radar yet, such as the depletion of potassium and phosphorus fertilizers.
Selatius
(20,441 posts)The Permian Extinction was a two stage extinction level event, for instance.
Once the Siberian Traps opened up and began pumping vast amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere, temperatures rose for about 40,000 years. At that point, temperatures had risen about 5 degrees Celcius worldwide, and that was apparently the tipping point for the release of all the methane hydrates found underneath the oceans. The release of that methane accelerated the warming so that temperatures rose another 5 degrees, for a total of 10 degrees.
This, as we see in the geologic record, was too much for the planet's biosphere to handle. 95% of life did not make it past the Permian Extinction event. In comparison, the KT event where the asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs only wiped out 65% of life on earth.
By no means is this message meant to downplay the danger of man-made global warming. At best, we'll limit the warming to 2 degrees Celsius, but realistically, we're probably talking about an end result that is between 2 to 4 degrees. 5 degrees is what we should be avoiding, and that will become a mighty difficult task towards the end of the 21st century. We don't need another major methane hydrate release in a repeat of history.
Other posters are right. Avoiding collateral damage is next to impossible at this point. We're now essentially only entertaining ideas meant to mitigate the cost of environmental destruction, as opposed to destruction avoidance.
caseymoz
(5,763 posts)They had other theories before this one came into favor and those fit the evidence at the time. I'm really wondering if it's not spread around so much because it's an approximate match for our current Global Warming scenario. My main question is, why would it have taken 40,000 years?
And another question, why didn't a similar extinction take place during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, 55 million years ago? The temperature rose 6 degrees Celsius over just 20,000 years. There were no polar ice caps and the poles were temperate zones. Crocodiles lived in what's now Britain then.
AverageJoe90
(10,745 posts)AGW has exacerbated droughts in the Great Plains; it's messed with the Arctic ecosystem, it's caused the heatwaves in Europe......I could list more.
olddad56
(5,732 posts)caseymoz
(5,763 posts)I think of us on a train heading for a cliff, the cliff being the "tipping point." We're beyond the point where we could stop in time, and we definitely can't steer it.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts).....and then along came Republicans....
apnu
(8,756 posts)America can be the greenest place on the planet and we still can't stop the amount of toxic shit China dumps on the world. Yes, we're very bad at it, but China as surpassed us and is accelerating the dumping of toxins.
This is a global problem and we human beings must confront it together.
Depressing, I know.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)Classic E=mc2 stuff with the only bi-product being neutrinos.
That would make every other form of energy obsolete.
PaulaFarrell
(1,236 posts)It is because the US and the west in general has moved its production of consumer goods to China. If each country was meaured based on per capita consumption of embodied CO2, China would still be far behind the west.
apnu
(8,756 posts)... because they are. What I am saying is bitching about Republicans in America when the problem is on a global scale is being too narrow minded. I guess I'm saying the cat is out of the bag on CO2 emissions. And I am aware that China is only just recently surpassed America in CO2 emissions, and we are a close 2nd right now.
Plus, motivating China to be less of a polluter is going to be impossible. The only thing that will get China to stop polluting is the total economic crash of that state. Which probably means a total economic crash combined with a major depression on a global scale that can idle China's toxic output. The state just doesn't care, and it can resist any and all international pressure for as long as it wants. It makes all the products the world wants, it has the bomb, and it has the largest (in terms of bodies) military in the world. Nobody can make China do anything it doesn't already want to do.
Kokonoe
(2,485 posts)They are the problem.
From what I hear, if you want a solar panel or whatever green, it comes from China.
My hands are very clean.
olddad56
(5,732 posts)only I think Mars was once like this and life will move toward the sun as it moves away from earth. I think that someday, long after the earth won't support life, Venus will. And maybe at one time Mars supported life. Scary to think about what happen to the asteroid belt.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)Easy,...some redneck said, "Hey, watch this."
Javaman
(62,521 posts)
ashling
(25,771 posts)
villager
(26,001 posts)n/t
MyshkinCommaPrince
(611 posts)Cycling has to go now, obviously. I, personally, will be taking the additional step of not breathing for one year, in order to reduce my CO2 footprint. Starting now.
...
Whoomf! Choke, gasp, and everything! Whoa. No, okay, starting... now!
See, I steal all my silliness from old Pogo cartoons....
tinrobot
(10,895 posts)I hear Alaska and Canada will be quite balmy in 2050 or so.
dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts)after the horse has bolted.
And the US still has the highest CO2 / capita of all developed nations.
Gregorian
(23,867 posts)We have a simple solution for 90% of all of our problems, and no one is even talking about it. In fact just the opposite: pointing it out draws criticism and denial.
nebenaube
(3,496 posts)suicide chamber... Now on every block!
Gregorian
(23,867 posts)davidthegnome
(2,983 posts)How would you suggest we handle that particular issue?