Carbon Dioxide Levels Climb Into Uncharted Territory for Humans

[n2doc]

The amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere has exceeded 402 parts per million (ppm) during the past two days of observations, which is higher than at any time in at least the past 800,000 years, according to readings from monitoring equipment on a mountaintop in Hawaii. Carbon dioxide, or CO2, is the most important long-lived greenhouse gas responsible for manmade global warming, and it is building up in the atmosphere due to the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas.

Once emitted, a single molecule of carbon dioxide can remain aloft for hundreds of years, which means that the effects of today's industrial activities will be felt for the next several centuries, if not thousands of years. Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, such as methane, warm the planet by absorbing and redirecting outgoing solar radiation that would otherwise escape back into space.

In 2013, atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide briefly hit 400 ppm for the first time in mid-May, but this year that symbolic threshold has been crossed even earlier. This means it is more likely that the annual peak, which typically occurs in mid-to-late May, will climb further above 400 ppm for the first time.

Although crossing above 400 ppm is largely a symbolic milestone, scientific research indicates that the higher that carbon dioxide concentrations get, the more global temperatures will increase, resulting in a wide range of damaging effects. These impacts will range from global sea level rise to a heightened risk of heat waves, severe droughts and floods, according to a recently released comprehensive assessment of climate science produced by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).



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http://mashable.com/2014/04/08/carbon-dioxide-highest-levels-global-warming/

[Sheepshank]

1. Didn't Bachmann state CO2 was good for us?

...just explaining why the RW will poo poo this one additional, in a whole mountain of evidence.

eta, here we go:

During a 2008 speech, Bachmann called global warming “voodoo, nonsense, hokum, a hoax,” and in a 2009 Earth Day speech in Congress she claimed that “carbon dioxide is portrayed as harmful. But there isn’t one such study because carbon dioxide is not a harmful gas, it is a harmless gas.”

Except for all the studies that do show the harmful effect carbon dioxide, one of the most potent greenhouse gases, emissions are having on the planet.

http://www.policymic.com/articles/45141/7-absurd-michele-bachmann-moments-she-ll-always-be-remembered-for

[n2doc]

2. Good for plants

And since Michelle is a plant (Koch subspecies) it must be good for her.

The other thing is, since CO2 levels were higher 100 million years ago or so, then everything is ok and these must be "natural" fluctuations....

[G_j]

4. please don't insult our friends the plants nt

[n2doc]

6. "plant" has multiple meanings...n/t

[Sheepshank]

5. One teeny tiny question....

"....CO2 levels were higher 100 million years ago or so,..." does she possibly think 6000=100,000,000?

never mind...no real need to respond lol

[Oilwellian]

3. She will be out of power in short time

Not that she was ever taken seriously by a large majority of Americans anyway.