Record CO2 Rise Spells Disaster for Future Generations
Carbon Dioxide levels took a record jump, now at 395 ppm — noted in an article in the Huffington Post. This is not good news. As NOAA expert Peter Tans explains, this makes it very unlikely that we can hold the temperature increase to 2 degrees C this century (about 3.5 degrees F). That foretells quite a climate disaster, even aside from the long term ice melt that will raise sea level and move the shoreline far inland eventually.
The problem is that the 2 degrees C is the average global temperature. Like any average that masks the true range. Some places will increase less, some more. Some places might actually be colder than the last century. For example land masses typically warm 40% more than the global average, and oceans that much less. Thus 2 degrees C really means 2.8 degrees C on land, or more than 5 degrees F. While it may not sound like much it has big impacts on crops, growing seasons, disease, and drought.
To put that in perspective, we are now about 5 degrees C warmer than the last ice age, which peaked about 20,000 years ago.
Calling this an “environmental issue” makes it seem modest. This is truly a world changing issue. It will be our legacy. It is a moral issue.
If you have any doubt as to the forces or magnitude of what is at stake, an earlier blog post of mine may illustrate the clarity and risk of what is at stake. See 420,000 years of Temperature, CO2, and Sea Level – What a Coincidence.