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    Home » Letter to The Editor: Three statements to guide us on climate
    Letter to The Editor

    Letter to The Editor: Three statements to guide us on climate

    March 13, 20201 Comment
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    By Terry Hansen
    Hales Corners, WI
    (March 13, 2020)

    Letter to The EditorThere are three statements by major scientific organizations that provide a valuable lens through which to view the climate crisis.

    “(T)he amount of rise in carbon dioxide levels since the late 1950s would naturally, in the context of past ice ages, have taken somewhere in the range of 5,000 to 20,000 years; we’ve managed to do it in about 60.” (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

    Although Earth’s climate has changed before, it’s the pace of the current change that’s most troubling.

    “Climate change resulting from anthropogenic CO2 emissions and any associated risks to the environment, human health and society, are…essentially irreversible on human time scales.” (Fourth National Climate Assessment, U.S. Global Change Research Program)

    About half of the carbon dioxide we emit stays in the atmosphere for centuries or more.

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    The United States is the greatest cumulative emitter, with twice the historical emissions of second place China. Given the long residence time of CO2 in the atmosphere, this means the U.S. is responsible for a larger percentage of the current CO2 concentration than any other nation.

    “Limiting global mean temperature increase at any level requires global CO2 emissions to become net zero at some point in the future.” (Global Warming of 1.5°C, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)

    Net zero carbon dioxide emissions means reducing emissions enough that they are balanced by CO2 removal, such as being absorbed by forests and dissolved in the oceans, otherwise the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will continue to grow.

    Along with safety and equity, climate policy should be evaluated on its ability to achieve this net zero goal as quickly as possible.  

     
    Consequently, when a candidate presents a climate plan during this election year, it’s crucial to ask: Does this proposal match the scope of the problem?

     
    Terry Hansen
    Hales Corners, WI  53130
     
    References
     
    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration statement (par. 3)
    https://www.climate.gov/news-features/climate-qa/if-carbon-dioxide-hits-new-high-every-year-why-isn%E2%80%99t-every-year-hotter-last
     
    Fourth National Climate Assessment statement (p. 394, bottom of first column)
    https://science2017.globalchange.gov/downloads/CSSR2017_FullReport.pdf
     
    Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change statement (p. 108)
    https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/sites/2/2019/06/SR15_Full_Report_High_Res.pdf
     
    About 50% of CO2 stays in the atmosphere for centuries or more (p. 514, bottom of column 2)
    https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/02/ar4-wg1-chapter7-1.pdf  
     
    Cumulative CO2 emissions (See section on key points.)
    https://ourworldindata.org/co2-and-other-greenhouse-gas-emissions#cumulative-co2-emissions
     
    Cumulative CO2 emissions by country
    https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/cumulative-co-emissions?tab=chart&country=CHN+IND+USA+DEU+GBR+Africa 
     
    That the U.S. is responsible for the greatest percentage of the current CO2 concentration was confirmed by personal correspondence with climate scientist David Archer, coauthor of this classic paper, “The millennial atmospheric lifetime of anthropogenic CO2.”
    https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs10584-008-9413-1.pdf
     
    What does net zero emissions mean?
    https://www.myclimate.org/information/faq/faq-detail/detail/News/what-does-net-zero-emissions-mean/

    1 Comment

    1. John Roberts on March 16, 2020 10:48 am

      Terri, I have read your remarks before and have found them unbelievable for many reasons, but thanks anyway for offering them for consideration.

      My preferred sources for the real facts on the causes of global warming are located in Flagstaff at both the university, NAU, and the renowned Lowell Observatory. As maybe you know Lowell is world recognized for the expertise of their leader, Jeff Hall, and staff. That happens because they have the telescope equipment to look into the universe where all this heat is coming from ( the sun in our case ) a fact which eludes too many if not all so called scientists and wana be experts.

      A summary of their opinions on how we all should cope and act to mitigate the increases in the temperatures is do not have the government create laws and regulations for this purpose because these measures never have nor will they ever work.

      Terri it would help you if you just quit following the Al Gore gang.


    The Symbolism of Jan. 6

    By Tommy Acosta
    Don’t mess with symbols. Just ask author Dan Brown’s character Robert Landon. The worth of symbols cannot be measured. Symbols make the world-go-round. Symbols carry the weight of a thousand words and meanings. Symbols represent reality boiled down to the bone. Symbols evoke profound emotions and memories—at a very primal level of our being—often without our making rational or conscious connections. They fuel our imagination. Symbols enable us to access aspects of our existence that cannot be accessed in any other way. Symbols are used in all facets of human endeavor. One can only feel sorry for those who cannot comprehend the government’s response to the breech of the capital on January 6, with many, even pundits, claiming it was only a peaceful occupation. Regardless if one sees January 6 as a full-scale riot/insurrection or simply patriotic Americans demonstrating as is their right, the fact is the individuals involved went against a symbol, and this could not be allowed or go unpunished. Read more→
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