Originally posted by quintar
In school we were taught that CO2, carbon dioxide, is everywhere. We exhale it and plants use it to give off oxygen.
Is that theory still valid today? I don't know, because now I keep hearing that Carbon emissions are responsible for global warming.
Yup, the carbon cycle still exists. The biosphere emits and absorbs CO2. But this cycle is being impacted on by our emissions. Billions of tonnes of
CO2 every year.
The biosphere can only absorb so much CO2. It is currently absorbing about 50% of our emissions, the rest leads to increasing concentrations in the
atmosphere. As CO2 is a GHG, this leads to warming.
At some point, the biosphere will probably stop absorbing our emissions, and begin emitting what it has absorb.
What about the fact that the sun is more active now with lots of solar flares? If it is warming up, wouldn't that effect be felt here as
well? I am sure it would.
Solar activity reached a peak about 50 years or so ago, and has possbily been falling for the last 20. Thus, solar cannot account for current warming.
It probably did have some impact on warming in the earlier part of the 20th century.
OP, I haven't watched the video yet. These questions are just something that I need to understand before I watch any videos about the
'truth' about GW.
Thank you.
No problem.
The first part of the video actually answers some of the issues you appear to have about CO2-induced warming. It's from a more historical viewpoint,
but it shows that the science underpinning these ideas are well-established.