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Study: CO2 Levels Getting To Point Of No Return

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Jan 26, 2009 8:36 pm US/Mountain

Study: CO2 Levels Getting To Point Of No Return

Reporting
Mike Hooker
BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4) ― Scientists in Boulder say how we consume energy now will have a permanent effect on our future.

A study led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says more carbon dioxide will cause irreversible changes.

Bottom line -- the NOAA says we're headed to a point of no return.

The researchers say the decisions we make right now are truly important. Exhaust from cars is just one source of the carbon dioxide that's among the greenhouse gasses blamed for climate change.

The new study says that if we let CO2 levels go from where we are now to some higher level, it'll take more than 1,000 years to get rid of that carbon dioxide, even if we stop producing it entirely after we get up to that level.

NOAA's senior scientist Susan Solomon led the research which is published in this week's proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The report considers what would happen if CO2 in the atmosphere increases by about 50 percent.

The authors say more CO2 will mean rising ocean levels, decreasing human water supplies in some areas, along with increased fire frequency, ecosystem change and expanded deserts in certain regions.

CBS4's Mike Hooker spoke to a researcher at Colorado State University who is very involved in similar research, but was not involved in the NOAA project.

"We've known for a long time that the extra CO2 is with us for thousands of years, but what this new study shows is the climate effect of that extra CO2," Prof. Scott Denning with CSU Atmospheric Sciences said. "The changes of sea level for example, the changes in persistent droughts, the changes in our day-to-day experience of our weather. There might be many, many generations of people experiencing those things."

Denning says he thinks research like this will lead us to a fundamental change in the way we get and use energy -- an energy revolution much like the industrial revolution.

In a news release the lead author of the NOAA study says "current choices regarding carbon dioxide emissions will have legacies that will irreversibly change the planet."

Additional Resources

Read more about the study from the NOAA.


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