Quote:
Originally Posted by JockoT
The air in Central London has 390 ppm.
|
...and so all is okay, right? This is an example of having minimal understanding, and forming an opinion based on that incomplete (and possibly inaccurate) information.
While it's true that humans get drowsy and complain of "bad air" when CO2 levels are around 1000 PPM, some readers might think that's just a minor inconvenience. Well, "bad air" in single room is a minor inconvenience. Not being able to remedy it because all air is in that condition, is much worse. So 390 ppm CO2 in London seems like about 40% of the way to a minor inconvenience to people who embrace this (misguided) perspective.
Historically, when ambient CO2 levels got around 1000 ppm, the ocean current system collapsed, and the entire oceanic ecosystem changed radically, which resulted in a massive aquatic die-off. This also affected land-based life, because the oceans not only moderate weather, but also global climate[1] and the air[2], and then eventually all planetary life.
The unfortunate thing is that the oceans do
not work on a binary basis: 999 ppm = OK; 1000 ppm = global disaster for most life-forms. Venerable scientists like Stephen Hawking[3] believe that humanity has likely already crossed the point of no return (or is very close to it). Based on evidence of the fossil record, we are currently in the midst of the 6th Mass Extinction Event, and it is caused by humans. Species are disappearing at an annual rate that's about 100x faster than the previous 5 known mass extinction events! Hawking gives humanity, as a species, another 1,000 years or so before we're extinct[4].
So why does this all sound like BS to most readers? A big part of it is due to what most people do during their non-working, non-sleeping hours. Most people do
not pour over scientific research, cross-reference it, note that most disciplines are mostly in agreement, watch a lot of science programs and documentaries, read a lot of science journals, etc. "Game of Thrones" is a far more popular pass-time, and most people are far more likely to believe the news or a soundbite from the political party they support, than they are to review a scientific paper. And on this basis, they form their beliefs and opinions.
That's why we have millions of people (mostly in the USA) believing that climate change is a hoax, humans play no part in it, chemtrails are a thing, NASA faked the moon landings, the Earth is flat (or hollow), etc., etc., etc.
___
[1] London, England is around the same latitude as wintery Winnipeg Manitoba Canada. Ireland is about the same latitude as the northern end of Canada's James Bay. Ireland gets palm trees. Canada gets polar bears. The ocean currents give this Western European countries their balmy climates in spite of their northern latitude.
[2] Oceans sequester tremendous amounts of CO2... providing they are able.
[3] Stephen Hawking is that brainiac guy who used only his mind to reason out that black holes should not be totally black; they should emit tremendous amounts of specific types of radiation from their poles. He figured out, mathematically, the nature of that radiation and asked astronomers across the globe to look for it. Sure as hell, he was right! As particles cross the Event Horizon, they are subatomically torn apart, and in doing so, they release tremendous amounts of radiation. Hawking's predictive discovery is now known as "Hawking Radiation."
[4] Extinction does not mean that every single last one of them are gone. It means they are reduced to such low numbers that they are, for all intents and purposes, doomed as a species, and they cannot bounce back. So the last of the human species may linger on for thousands more years until eventually, the last of them are 100% gone.
Linear Mode
