Environment: Content from Across the ABC


Date/Time 26 Dec 2014 2:51:28pm
Are you aware that the warming effect of CO2 is proportional to the log of the atmospheric concentration, not to the concentration itself? That is quite important as it means that the first 40ppm CO2 has the same warming effect as the next 400ppm. That is why a 40% increase in CO2 generates only a 3% increase in warming (if you assume no negative feedback effects - an invalid assumption), which explains why the entire Industrial revolution has generated a pitiful 0.7 degree Global Warming. To make things worse there ARE negative feedbacks so the warming stalled in 1997. The Hockey Stick turns out to be a sigmoid curve, just like Population growth over the same period.
There is zero evidence for the real-world existence of the mythical "Tipping Points" so mentioning these just makes you sound like a Gaia-worshipping nut-case. The global temperature plateaued 15 years ago and has not increased since. That is a fact: NASA data confirms it. Deal with it, and the changes it requires in your world-view. I realise that will be a difficult adjustment for you but sorry, that is the way things are.