NPR reports CO2 levels are the highest in 4 million years as of May 2021 (NPR.org). Probably not true, after all it is NPR. I like the world according to Fox.
The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere has reached 419 parts per million notes the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It actually dipped to 417 parts per million when we were locked up during the pandemic. Is that the answer – prison for everyone and I mean everyone. No discrimination there!
CO2 levels are beginning to soar as life returns to Normal ( hard to define) post pandemic.
We add 40 billion metric tons of CO2 pollution to the earth’s atmosphere every year. Is this what we call normal? Nobody can deny that we humans are quite remarkable – even unique and definitely SMART!
Pieter Tans, a senior scientist with NOAA’s Global Monitoring Laboratory (one of them) says: ” If we want to avoid catastrophe, the highest priority must be to reduce pollution to zero at the earliest possible date”. Now that’s s scientist for you. What do they know? I bet most of them don’t even own a gun … and if they did, they wouldn’t know how to use it.
These measurements of CO2 are the monthly average of recorded data by NOAA and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at an observatory atop Hawaii’s Loa volcano. I suppose I should be impressed by that ???
The last time the atmosphere held this amount of CO2 was during the Pliocene period, some 4.1 to 4.5 million years ago. Now how is that important? Who said we humans couldn’t do anything we want as long as we are willing to work hard for what we get….
During the Pliocene period, sea levels were 78 feet higher than today. The planet was 7 degrees F warmer and large forests may have been growing in the Arctic tundra. Oh, man – Come on now!! Be real – please. That doesn’t scare me. We humans are smart and we have technology and know how!!! We will figure it out when we need to….but for now…I am going to enjoy everything I have. Nobody and I mean Nobody is going to take that away!!! ( said especially for the tree huggers out there).
Homo erectus, an early ancestor emerged about two million years ago on a much co0ler planet. At that time CO2 levels were averaging 230 parts per million. Those guys weren’t as smart as we are. I suppose you think we evolved from the apes…Got that wrong – No way!
Ralph Keeling, a geochemist at Scripps says: “We ultimately need cuts in emissions that are much larger and sustained than the Covid related shutdowns of 2020”.
CO2 is a green house gas that remains in the atmosphere for hundreds of years. The steep increase in CO2 is driven almost entirely by human activity in the last century.
NOAA scientist P. Tans suggested that society has the tools it needs to stop emitting CO2. “Solar energy and wind are already cheaper than fossil fuels and they work at the scales that are required”.
So what’s missing – a science of human behavior. Oh not more of that science stuff. Less science = fewer problems. I am tired of people saying that we are the problem.
How does one relate to an emotionally driven process without becoming a part of the problem you are trying to correct?
How did man’s deep connection with the earth change over the course of his history on the planet? How did the changes in his connection with the soil on which he depends alter his social relationships and the stability of his social groups? How much is human survival dependent on mankind’s intimate connection with the land? To deny that connection may cost us our future.
I will have more to add to this in future sessions.