Climate Change – The CO2 will not go away!
If we stop emitting CO2 now, the CO2 we have now will still be there for a thousand years!
In the past, men have created bad air by burning things. Flying into an African city you will see a cloud of pollution over the city –Wood Smoke. London was infamous a century ago for the pollution from soft coal. Fuji is a rare sight in Tokyo now. Beijing is choking on bad air.
When California suffered from bad air, strict emission standards were legislated, and soon the air cleared up! A real victory! SO2 can be washed out of the air. CO2 cannot!
The residence time for CO2 in the atmosphere is at least 1000 years. Itis believed that about half of the new CO2 is dissolved into the ocean (Raising the pH and endangering all the shellfish), but that does not mean that the old CO2 will be taken up next year. In fact the ocean would probably emit the some CO2 to make the CO2 higher if some of the atmospheric CO2 were to be removed!
IF WE STOP EMITTING CO2 NOW, NOTHING WILL CHANGE. Well, it will not continue getting worse. We are at the point where tropical storms grow from minor to major overnight! We are at the point where the polar vortex has gotten very weak, permitting really cold air to cross the Canadian border! We are approaching the point where sea level rise gets serious. Where Mar-A-Lago is drowned. But, if we stop emitting CO2, we might save Mar-a-Lago. Well, maybe not. We probably cannot stop a few feet of sea level rise.
We can only keep it from getting much worse! But WE CAN LIVE WITH THAT! The alternative is unthinkable!