Can Man cause Co2 to double? You hear over and over that a doubling of Co2 will lead to catastrophe. Nature can clearly double Co2; it was much higher in the atmosphere millions of years ago. But can Man?
This table from Doomed Planet says NO. The IPCC asserts that half of fossil fuel Co2 remains in the atmosphere. Currently we have 800 gigatonnes of Co2 up there, which makes up 388 ppm (part per million) of all air. If we burn all the remaining fossil fuels, we burn 647 gigatonnes of carbon, and if half remain up there, it only increases Co2 by another 157 ppm, well short of a double.
Funny. All this pernicious scientific manipulation for .. nothing.
Wish what you have said is true but Carbon conversion to carbon dioxide increases weight by 44:12 – the ratio of respective atomic weights.
That said, calculating the release over 40 years ,say the effect is fairly minimal.Worth re-doing I think. The CO2 increase in the atmosphere cannot be mainly from fossil fuels.
Also, the amount of CO2 that stays in the atmosphere is increasing as the ocean’s ability to absorb excess CO2 diminishes.
And it’s not just the CO2 we should worry about, but the feedback effects that are likely to exacerbate climate change, such as losing Arctic ice cover.
Scientists have traced the excess CO2 in the atmosphere back to human activity. CO2 from burning fossil fuels has a different ratio of isotopes than naturally occurring CO2.
http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science_and_impacts/science/latest-climate-science.html
Aaron Huertas
Union of Concerend Scientists