Rate of CO2 Emissions Increasing: New Research Shows
by Tim McGee, Helena, MT, USA on 12. 5.06
Yes, we know CO2 is increasing, blah, blah, blah. Yet like my previous post on what appears to be a series of 'news you already know' stories, the devil is in the details. Dr. Mike Raupach, co-Chair of the Global Carbon Project points out that our emissions strategies to date have been ineffective. Not only have we been unable to slow emissions, but his research shows we are actually still accelerating in terms of the CO2 that is left in the atmosphere. The possibility exists that our systems are already saturated with CO2. Like ground that has been saturated by a heavy rain, even a little more rain will cause a flood.
“When natural variability is smoothed out, 45 per cent of emissions have remained in the atmosphere each year over the past 50 years...A danger is that the land and oceans might take up less carbon dioxide in the future than they have in the past, which would increase the rate of climate change caused by emissions.”
The implications are that we may need a more creative and aggressive approach to CO2 emissions and sequestration...a little sooner then expected. There is a great little MP3 interview with Dr. Raupach on the CSIRO website. ::CSIRO
