07-28-2017, 12:32 AM
(07-27-2017, 04:44 PM)X_4AD_84 Wrote:(07-27-2017, 04:17 PM)David Horn Wrote:(07-26-2017, 02:53 PM)X_4AD_84 Wrote:(07-26-2017, 11:45 AM)Eric the Green Wrote:(07-26-2017, 11:25 AM)X_4AD_84 Wrote: Even the IPCC do not believe all the ice will melt.
The point was, it WILL all melt IF we continue on our current course. The Drump/GOP course. If we make changes, maybe it won't all melt. But some melting is already baked in, so to speak.
As I've noted to you previously, the US hit peak CO2 output some time ago. Meme spouting gasbags aside, we are not going to return to "King Coal" especially not after converting many plants to natural gas or shutting them down. Some existing coal fired plants may convert to lower CO2 output per joule of net electricity generated. Overall, we shall continue our downward profile of CO2.
What will really matter will be China, India, Russia, Brazil, etc.
And they will do what they want to do.
But even factoring that in, population dynamics will present a global peak of CO2 output, probably right in line with or slightly leading peak population. It could come as soon as 10 years from now. Then, the long global downward trajectory in CO2 output. Meanwhile, greening and the ocean cycle will fix tremendous volumes of carbon. That's what's amazing about Gaia.
Whether we add more or not, the CO2 in the environment remains and heat accumulates. If no more is added, and none removed, a steady state will arrive at some point in the future, but it will be hotter overall than it is now.
Biological and geochemical processes will remove it. In fact, the overall trend prior to the arrival of humans was gradual removal, to levels that were becoming dangerous at times at the low end of viability for green plants and plankton.
Not for decades, and not until well after we stop emitting it.