Word: co2
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...first five months of 1988, he said, average worldwide temperatures were the highest in the 130 years that records have been kept. Moreover, Hansen continued, he - is 99% certain that the higher temperatures are not just a natural phenomenon but the result of a buildup of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other gases from man- made sources, mainly pollution from power plants and automobiles. Said Hansen: "It is time to stop waffling and say that the evidence is pretty strong that the greenhouse effect is here...
...phenomenon that Hansen describes is actually a natural, beneficial atmospheric process that many scientists believe has gone awry -- perhaps irreversibly. Without the greenhouse effect, life on earth would be a nightmare of subzero temperatures. Instead, naturally produced CO2 and other gases, mainly from plant and animal life, behave in the atmosphere like the glass in a greenhouse: they let the visible warming rays of the sun in but inhibit the escape of infrared rays back into space...
Since the Industrial Revolution, however, increased production of CO2 and other gases, such as nitrous oxide, has made the protective atmospheric shroud even denser. If scientists are correct, the atmospheric blanket of pollutants is now capturing far more of the earth's excess heat, resulting in global warming...
...amazed to discover that Freon, a widely used CFC, was an infrared absorber. "It had a very large impact," he says. "Since then, tracking down the role of other trace gases has become a cottage industry. There are dozens of them, and they are rivaling the effects of increasing CO2." In fact, by the year 2030 the earth will already face the equivalent of a doubling of CO2, thanks to these other rapidly increasing gases, including methane, nitrous oxide and all the CFCs. "These are the little guys," says Schneider. "But they nickel and dime you to the point where...
...similar attempt to ease the greenhouse effect by imposing limits on CO2 and other emissions is unlikely. John Topping, president of the Washington- based Climate Research Institute, argues that adjustments in agricultural production, like limiting the use of nitrogen-based fertilizers, would have only a slight effect. A more important step would be to protect the tropical rain forests, a move that would certainly be resisted by developers. Obviously, the most far-reaching step would be to cut back on the use of fossil fuels, a measure that would be hard to accomplish in industrialized countries without a wholesale turn...