Well, can we handle one more day on environmental issues? It was interesting yesterday after chatting about shipping causing double the Co2 released in the atmosphere as the airlines, I read on the BBC’s website that the actual amount of Co2 in the atmosphere has risen 35% more than expected since 2000. 17% of that increase was additional human inefficiencies. The other 18% is just another “hole in the dam” as I mentioned yesterday. It was due to the fact that the natural places the earth soaks up Co2 are well, getting full. Under healthy circumstances our oceans can soak up a good amount of Co2. Plant life takes up the rest. However these natural carbon sinks can only hold so much. In addition, other environmental factors can limit their ability to absorb gases properly. Interestingly according to Dr Corinne Le Quere of the British Antarctic Survey, an increase in winds in the southern ocean has halved the oceans ability to absorb carbon properly. Of course there is no way to predict what way things will go in the future, but you can certainly make a good guess.

What I find interesting is that just a couple years ago no one was all that concerned about the oceans ability to absorb CO2. In fact the bigger worry was the threat to ocean life that the additional CO2 presented. Of course that worry is still there, but now it seems this is just another animal in the face of a raging fire. I wonder if we could get FEMA to deal with that?

Read article at the bbc
Read 2004 article at Planet Ark

photo credit: Dong Ng/EyeExpress