In 1982 the scientists studying climate changes wrought by The Industrial Revolution predicted that by the year 2020 the CO2 levels would be between 410-420 ppm. At the time the number was in the low 300s.
The scientists worked for Exxon and they knew that the climate was changing.
The paper detailing their findings can be found here CO2 Greenhouse Effect
[the original link has gone dead, but here the information is discussed: https://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/news/speeches/time-to-wake-up-exxon-knew +
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/01122015/documents-exxons-early-co2-position-senior-executives-engage-and-warming-forecast/ ]
Their science was remarkably accurate and yet for 27 years Exxon funded climate change deniers so that no industry crippling regulations could be enacted. It was an act of desperate corporate survival. By succeeding in sowing seeds of doubt, they helped fuel the “climate change deniers” of today who ambush people with “fake science” or cherry picked data to further their agenda of preventing any significant cultural and economic changes.
History will measure and reveal the significance of this delay in action by humans to rectify a chemical imbalance in the atmosphere. This chemical imbalance causes “The Greenhouse Effect” and guarantees that once it reaches a certain level it will generate planet wide changes in Earth’s climate. Whether we can make a significant reduction in the growth of CO2, or not, there is no harm in making the attempt. The attempt being our only hope in preventing catastrophic changes in climate that will affect the lives of hundreds of millions of people.
One figure from the Exxon report made in 1982:
The curve to the left is the prediction of CO2 rise, the curve to the right is the increase of temperature that is expected to match that rise. Both curves are almost dead on accurate to the present measurements.
An animation of the Keeling Curve (measurements of CO2 for decades) demonstrates the yearly "breathing" of CO2 where it is high in one part of the year and lower during the next. Yet, the trend line continues to climb, like a stairway to heaven, only this stairway may lead elsewhere.
The Keeling Curve animation
Some of the other conclusions in the animation include that scientific evidence that human beings have never experienced an Earth with this high of a concentration of CO2.
Their science was remarkably accurate and yet for 27 years Exxon funded climate change deniers so that no industry crippling regulations could be enacted. It was an act of desperate corporate survival. By succeeding in sowing seeds of doubt, they helped fuel the “climate change deniers” of today who ambush people with “fake science” or cherry picked data to further their agenda of preventing any significant cultural and economic changes.
History will measure and reveal the significance of this delay in action by humans to rectify a chemical imbalance in the atmosphere. This chemical imbalance causes “The Greenhouse Effect” and guarantees that once it reaches a certain level it will generate planet wide changes in Earth’s climate. Whether we can make a significant reduction in the growth of CO2, or not, there is no harm in making the attempt. The attempt being our only hope in preventing catastrophic changes in climate that will affect the lives of hundreds of millions of people.
One figure from the Exxon report made in 1982:
The curve to the left is the prediction of CO2 rise, the curve to the right is the increase of temperature that is expected to match that rise. Both curves are almost dead on accurate to the present measurements.
An animation of the Keeling Curve (measurements of CO2 for decades) demonstrates the yearly "breathing" of CO2 where it is high in one part of the year and lower during the next. Yet, the trend line continues to climb, like a stairway to heaven, only this stairway may lead elsewhere.
The Keeling Curve animation
Some of the other conclusions in the animation include that scientific evidence that human beings have never experienced an Earth with this high of a concentration of CO2.
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