what harm CO2 emissions are causing? ...tearing down the rain forest and thus lessening the number of plants that can suck in the CO2.
A number of points. The Earth is subject to all sorts of climate cycles which it is well beyond our capacity to control. Within these cycles climatologists have discovered many rapid upward swings of temperature in the past associated with rapid increase in CO2 levels, followed by slower decreases. Something flips the system to release the locked in CO2. The current levels of CO2 are historically high and are rising which (if the past is anything to go by) will raise temperatures globally. While some areas may benefit for a while, most ecosystems will be put under extreme strain (=drought, storms, flooding, starvation)
Most climatologists are surprised that the measured CO2 is lower than the amount predicted by the amount being pumped out by humans. Like cosmologists looking for dark matter, climatologists have been looking for the hidden sinks. Until they understand where these sinks are and how stable they are, the models are not complete. Last night a program on TV stated that a series of measurements have discovered that the Amazon is not CO2 neutral as had been thought (i.e. CO2 from decaying trees = CO2 locked in new growth) but was still sucking it in. But in rain free years it is a CO2 source. All it needs is a few more degrees and it will become a permanent source with fires releasing most of what is already locked in. This will provide a CO2 surge and global temperatures would soar (their prediction - another 20 degrees C from 2050 to 2100). There are other CO2 sinks such as the oceans which might also flip and add to the problem.
Yes it would be great if the "greedy peasants" would stop tearing the rain forest down, that would buy us another 2 years maybe, but it needs a lot more effort by everyone to make a real difference. [/rant]
Rod
