Date published: 2005/03/31
The BBC says:
The atmospheric concentration of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide has reached a new high, say US researchers.
The figures - 378 parts per million (ppm) - were gathered by a Hawaiian lab regarded by experts as one of the most reliable in climate research.
The rise in the past year is smaller than it was in the previous two years.
But the trend remains upwards, as it has for every year since measurements began on top of the Mauna Loa volcano nearly half a century ago.
...
The laboratory's director, Dr Pieter Tans, told the BBC: "The most striking thing about the data is that we've seen an increase in carbon dioxide levels every single year since 1958."
...
According to Dr Tans, one significant finding is that the annual rate at which the CO2 is rising has itself increased.The growth rate over the past decade was about twice as fast as that found in the 1960s.
He says that variations in the growth rate year by year can be explained by natural factors; for example, changes in the rate at which plants and the oceans soak up carbon dioxide.
But he and his colleagues conclude that the steady rise overall can be attributed to man-made emissions of carbon.
Geez, what a surprise. And obviously almost certainly (to within any reasonable doubt) due to man-made emissions. But man-made emissions are also "natural factors" since man is part of nature. It is not illegal for mankind to emit carbon dioxide just like it is not illegal for plants to soak it up. Of course too large an increase could lead to dire consequences, and that is the real issue.
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