BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | 'Unexpected growth' in CO2 found
"About half of emissions from human activity are absorbed by natural "sinks" but the efficiency of these sinks has fallen, the study suggests."
A recent study by the Global Carbon Project has found that global levels of atmospheric CO2 increased 35% more quickly than previously predicted. Part of the increase is due to reductions in energy efficiency by fossil fuel using technologies. Technological gains achieved during the 1990s have slowed. The other major contribution comes from ‘positive feedbacks’ from our own climate system. As the world warms, greenhouse gases that have been ‘sequestered’ in the Earth’s sediments (ex. permafrost in Siberia), forests (deforestation) or oceans are now being released at a higher rate into the atmosphere. Temperature increases of 10 F or more in Arctic regions over the past 50 years have unleashed a wave of new methane emissions that may be almost impossible to arrest without urgent action to slow global warming.
Now is the time to personally commit to reducing our climate footprint! Government and industry has not taken sufficient action to reverse these trends.
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2 comments:
I agree.
Personal efforts combined by economic and social activities are the solutions.
Naoto
Of course, it is critical that we get government and industry on board to address the climate crisis. But we cannot afford to wait until they act. Globally, CO2 emissions continue to rise, despite the signing of the Kyoto Protocol, which was primarily aimed at government and industry. Only a few of the treaty's signatories will achieve their stated emissions reductions goals by the end of the treaty period in 2012.
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