Although there are a few scientists that believe the latest climate changes are natural, approximately 95% of climate scientists agree that the latest Earth warming (caused by CO2 increases) is due to Man's activities. See the list of organizations that agree here.
I would like to present a summary graph of the most important and compelling data to date. Here it is above. These data are so important I felt compelled to present it again with more discussion. These data are produced from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NASA. It is a comprehensive presentation of CO2 data for the past 650,000 years. These CO2 concentrations are from air bubbles trapped in ice from Antarctic ice cores, representing CO2 in the atmosphere at the time they were trapped in snow. These concentrations are plotted versus time. Through age dating techniques, scientists are able to produce ages of the ice in which the CO2 bubbles are located. Therefore, these CO2 concentrations plotted versus time are the most accurate and most comprehensive data for climate change as they record CO2 concentrations that were present in Antarctica for the past 650,000 years. The graph also includes present-day CO2 concentrations for comparison. As you can see, there are natural cycles in the production of CO2 over the past period of 650,000 years. The maximum CO2 concentration recorded for these natural cycles does not exceed 300 ppm. (See other ice core data showing the record extends to 800,000 years before present.) Now compare this maximum to the present-day average CO2 concentration of 405 ppm recorded in May 2016. This is historic and unprecedented, because present-day CO2 concentrations (in the last 200 years) have not been present for at least the last 650,000 years. This corresponds to the on-set of the industrial revolution and unprecedented burning of fossil fuels by humans. What is even worse, is that the rate of CO2 production from burning of fossil fuels is not being reduced and it is highly likely, that we will see CO2 concentrations of 800 ppm in the coming years. If we have not seen CO2 concentrations on Earth above 300 ppm for the past 650,000 years, what makes us think there will not be huge climate change effects when we are already at 400 ppm in 200 years and heading even higher? Make no mistake, the implications of these unprecedented CO2 concentrations are huge and we are only beginning to see their effects now, as the huge CO2 increase will take some time for its full effect to be realized on Earth’s climate. Maddalena Environmental Inc. Al Maddalena |