Quote:
Originally Posted by jeffk
Volcanos produce a tiny fraction of all the CO2 produced naturally so comparing man's production of CO2 to that low source number is going to make man's output seem huge.
Respiration of living creatures produces 220 Billion tons of CO2. Compared to that, man's 30 Billion tons is about 14%. Not tiny but not huge either.
Now if we could just get all living creature to hold their breath, permanently, - problems solved.  |
And with additional warmth comes even more respiration of carbon. And more permafrost melt starting to release a truly epic addtional carbon load, followed by even warmer temps and even more respiration, and...well...you get the point. What we know from direct measurement over 200 years or so is that carbon dioxide is 40% higher than it was 200 years ago. With co2 still being less that 1% of total atmosphere you might be tempted to think its not a big deal. Except that tiny portion of co2 is crazy good at capturing heat. There are other gases that trap more per molecule but they have a short presence in the atmosphere. Co2 is with us for around 100 years. We are throwing fuel on the fire in a sense. Long lasting fuel.