BY JOSE PALU-AY DACUDAO
SOME important points, summarized, from my previous columns on this subject:
1. Carbon Dioxide is an important greenhouse gas.
2. The Earth’s previous atmospheres contained much more CO2 than the present.
3. CO2 is necessary for photosynthesis. All of our food ultimately comes from the photosynthetic activity of plants and cyanobacteria.
4 The action of action of living organisms in past eras, especially photosynthetic activity and the formation of calcium carbonate (in shells and skeletons) resulted in a marked draw-down of the ancient atmospheres’ CO2 over billions of years. So much so that in the pre-industrial age, plants were near the level of CO2 starvation. (See Part 1.)
5. Nevertheless, as recently as during the time of the dinosaurs, CO2 levels were probably 6 to 7 times more than it is in the present.
6. CO2 has steadily increased in the atmosphere thanks to man-made activities, and significantly so since the start of the industrial age. Pre-industrial CO2 was probably less the 300 parts per million. Today, it is more than 400 parts per million. This is still a far far cry from its levels in past geological eras.
7. The increase in atmospheric CO2 is hypothesized to cause much of (a) global climate warming, more than any man-made gas and (b) as much as 20% increase of green areas around the Earth’s surface since the 1980s, from formerly desert areas. (See Part 1.)
8. A continuing increase in global temperature will result in the melting of the ice caps, and consequently, and increase in sea levels. Some conjectures estimate a more than 100 feet rise in sea level, if all the south pole icecap and Antarctic glaciers melt.
9. Even if the north pole icecap totally melts, it would probably not result in a significant rise in sea level. Why? Because the ice in the North Pole is actually floating in the Arctic Ocean. The bulk of floating water ice is submerged below the liquid water’s surface, and so takes almost the same volume as liquid water. (If you don’t believe this, take a glass of water, place ice in it, mark the surface level of the water, allow the ice to melt, and see that the surface level will not have much increased.)
10. Other speculations such as significant increase in stormy weather, floods, etc… have not been proven. On the other hand, there is the evidence of (a) desert areas receding (see above) and (b) previous tundra and permafrost areas also receding, which would theoretically allow an increase in farming areas, where once the ground was frozen. There is also evidence that the Arctic Ocean is becoming more and more free of ice. Phtiplankton and photosynthetic production in the Arctic Ocean has increased. (Barring alarmists screaming polar-bears are dying, in spite of the fact there is no good study that proves this, zooplankton, and the crustaceans and fish that feed on them, may actually be increasing, providing more food for seals and whales.)
11. Mass Media and western governments have been more focused on the belief that global warming is bad. And it would if the Antarctic South ice caps and glaciers totally melt and increase the sea level significantly, as many coastal areas around the world would submerge. The role of man-made CO2 as a greenhouse gas is especially condemned by Mass Media and western governments. (To be continued)/PN
