Comments on: Why The 400 PPM Milestone Is Irrelevant

By: Rick Kasten

Rick Kasten — Wed, 15 May 2013 00:32:00 +0000

The atmospheric pressure on Venus is much higher than on Earth BECAUSE of the greenhouse effect, not visa versa.

By: Todd W Thompson

Todd W Thompson — Tue, 14 May 2013 19:01:00 +0000

I agree with the author. The rate of Human shift to renewables is MUCH FASTER than the rate of rising PPM.

By: Kevin Adams

Kevin Adams — Tue, 14 May 2013 16:56:00 +0000

Well, soybeans will like it according to this… http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090209205202.htm

By: Karl-Friedrich Lenz

Karl-Friedrich Lenz — Tue, 14 May 2013 11:07:00 +0000

Hansen in “Storms of my Grandchildren” seems to disagree.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runaway_greenhouse_effect#Earth

By: bob

bob — Tue, 14 May 2013 10:55:00 +0000

For a couple months now, most of the windmills on the old Bethlehem Steel property haven’t been turning at all.

By: Bob_Wallace

Bob_Wallace — Tue, 14 May 2013 06:23:00 +0000

I think we hurt our progress away from fossil fuels by making people afraid that they will have to radially change their lifestyle and perhaps have to suffer due to a greatly diminished economy.

I think we need to be telling people that they can have it all as long as we get the hell away from fossil fuels and make some changes to our manufacturing feedstock.

By: Ross

Ross — Tue, 14 May 2013 06:18:00 +0000

This point about sustainable growth needs to be more widely understood.

By: Tim

Tim — Tue, 14 May 2013 03:53:00 +0000

No more renewable energy is the only way.

By: Alan kemp

Alan kemp — Tue, 14 May 2013 03:35:00 +0000

Australia has closed a number of coal power station with good results levels of reduction in CO2 emissions one power station has reported in SA down by 85 per cent.

Australia has done its part.

By: Bob_Wallace

Bob_Wallace — Tue, 14 May 2013 00:49:00 +0000

The dirtiest of our energy sources are coal and oil.

They are also produce more expensive energy than the energy sources we’re starting to use to replace them.

Wind, solar, geothermal, hydro and (likely) tidal produce cheaper electricity than does coal. (Remember the health costs of coal.)

It’s about one-fourth as expensive to drive with electricity than using oil.

We can grow all we want as long as the inputs are sustainable and we don’t harm ourselves with the byproducts.

By: MrEnergyCzar

MrEnergyCzar — Tue, 14 May 2013 00:43:00 +0000

We won’t change our growth dependent economic model which means we’ll feed our economies with dirty cheap energy for decades to come… the growth model has to change.

MrEnergyCzar

By: photosymbiont

photosymbiont — Tue, 14 May 2013 00:15:00 +0000

Yeah, I think plants need the right amount of water more than they need a extra bump of CO2, don’t they? Flooding and drought are what threaten agriculture, and in any case, CO2 is never a limiting nutrient for plant growth – that’s why fertilizers include nitrates and phosphates, right?

It really is a tired old scientifically inaccurate talking point based on a ludicrous simplification of plant physiology.

By: photosymbiont

photosymbiont — Tue, 14 May 2013 00:10:00 +0000

Just one little point – the Venus outcome is completely implausible, please remember the atmospheric pressure there is much much higher than on Earth. We’ll have plenty to worry about – massive population movements, severe drought and flooding, major circulation shifts, etc etc without invoking scientifically implausible outcomes like a “runaway greenhouse”. It’s not going to happen.

Sometimes it seems that the renewable energy communities and the climate science communities need to talk to one another a bit more. Then you wouldn’t have such mistakes being made (and you’d see fewer climate scientists promoting similarly implausible concepts like “zero-emission” coal plants and the like, too).

By: Bob_Wallace

Bob_Wallace — Mon, 13 May 2013 21:52:00 +0000

Extra plant growth in one area is likely to be offset by plant extinction/desertification in others.

Arizona will likely have a mass exodus long before the ocean arises….

By: James Wimberley

James Wimberley — Mon, 13 May 2013 21:50:00 +0000

This is deeply misguided politically. Humans rally round slogans and symbols. A good cause rallies round a symbol that encapsulates a more complex truth. That’s why 400ppm matters. We’ve just gone through a red light, at speed. WHOA!

By: Kevin Adams

Kevin Adams — Mon, 13 May 2013 21:37:00 +0000

The flora are going to love this… plants need CO2 and warmth. Perhaps increased flora growth will cycle out the excess CO2 and give us more oxygen in the process. But in the meantime, will Arizona finally have ocean-front property?

By: Ross

Ross — Mon, 13 May 2013 19:24:00 +0000

It is a fight worth having. It’s going to get ugly as the earth responds. Drill down a few metres in Greenland and you’re at a point out of equilibrium with the current level of CO2 in the atmosphere. Even if we could slam things into reverse and get off fossil fuels in the next 20 years the world is going to keep warming up