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In Reply to: RE: GW does not look at millions of years of data . . . posted by mr grits on March 29, 2012 at 15:09:20
[snips]
The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) was a period of natural global warming that took place almost 56 million years ago. It came at a time when the atmospheric concentration of CO2 was already higher than today, and global temperatures also much warmer. The PETM warming was a roughly 200,000-year long event where global temperatures rose by a further 6–8°C, and is thought to have been caused by a massive injection of CO2 into the atmosphere.
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The authors find that the maximum PETM rate of emission for organic carbon as the source is equivalent to 6.2 billion tonnes of CO2 per year, and for methane as the source, 1.1 billion tonnes of CO2 per year. For comparison: 2010 human-carbon emissions were 30.6 billion tonnes. So if organic carbon was the source, current emissions are almost 5 times faster than the PETM, and if methane, current emissions are rising 27 times faster.
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But now that we humans have embarked on a global warming experiment, there are some useful lessons from the past:
The rapid pulse of PETM CO2 followed by rapid warming (figure 2e) indicates high climate sensitivity.
CO2 does indeed appear to have a long atmospheric lifetime.
Ocean acidification (of the deep sea at least) can occur even under conditions of CO2 release much slower than today.
Present acidification of the ocean is far greater than the PETM, and is probably unprecedented in the last 65 million years.
Whether the plants and animals upon which humans depend can survive the present rapidly changing environment remains to be seen.
[end snips]
Local weather is not the issue.
"Science has become a liberal's whore..." Sheesh, man, look at where the money is coming from in my link in my post above.
Sometimes, shoveling your neighbor's sidewalk is the right thing to do. You're OK if we lead from behind on this one? I'm not. But I agree that our efforts should be focused on make alternative energy cheaper, not carbon more expensive. That takes government action and investment.
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"We are as gods and might as well get good at it." - Stewart Brand
Follow Ups:
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but I didn't want to give Rod a coronary, considerate guy that I am.
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"We are as gods and might as well get good at it." - Stewart Brand
Of course, 7 Billion people would have to be knocked down to less than 1 Billion, maybe, even far less.
Still, we can S-L-O-W T-H-I-N-G-S D-O-W-N, which I think is a viable alternative to doing NOTHING. It is the political idea all scientists have -- except for a Dr. Strangelove, perhaps!
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