The year 1800 was time when many industrialised cities started burning coal to heat homes and & power primitive engines. 198 million tons of carbon was released in the atmosphere in the year 1850 with the United Kingdom being the top polluter followed by the U.S. France, Germany & Belgium. Carbon is a translucent gas that can float in the sky for thousands of years without breaking down & the translucent characteristics of the gas gives it the ability to block enough just the right amounts of sunlight when present in the right amount in the atmosphere. Out of the two thirds of the sun’s heat that hit the surface of the earth, about a third is kept on Earth because of this translucent gas. For the past 800,000 years carbon levels in the atmosphere have bounced between 200 – 300 PPM. Charles David Keeling, a chemist & oceanographer in the year 1950 installed an air monitor on top Mauna Loa Volcano to measure carbon levels in the atmosphere. In the year 1959, 316 PPM of carbon were present in the atmosphere, 1970, 325 PPM, 1990 it was 354 PPM of Carbon and as of the 4th of April 2020 the carbon levels stand at 416.03 PPM as measured at the Muana Loa Observatory Hawaii.
300,0000 Years (Three Million) ago, was the last time that CO2 levels were this high (Scientists tested air samples trapped in tiny bubbles in the glaciers of Antarctica). During this period, temperature was 2-3 degrees higher than pre industrial era and the sea levels were 15-25 meters (50-80 Feet) higher than today. Burning of fossil fuels such as oil and coal are the main culprits behind the rise of CO2 levels in the atmosphere. The process of photosynthesis that plants have used for millions of years to pull carbon from the atmosphere and replenish it with oxygen, has been reversed at an alarming rate within the last few centuries by human activity. According to the state of the climate report 2018, the global growth rate of carbon in the 1960’s was roughly .06 PPM +/- .01 PPM per year. In the last decade this has grown to 2.3ppm per year, with the change from 2019 – 2020 being 3.24 PPM!
We have all heated a pot of water on the gas stove, it takes time and quite a lot of energy to do so. Now imagine heating the earth! This would take massive amounts of energy to raise the surface temperature even slightly. 2 degrees, that’s how much the global average surface temperature has increased by from the pre industrial era of 1880 to the present times. This warming has not been uniform, but the trend shows that more areas are warming than cooling. According to the global climate summary report by NOAA, the combined global average temperature (Land & Ocean) has increased by an average rate of .07 Centigrade since 1880, but the average increase since 1981 has more than doubled!
This historical & current data is incontrovertible! The question is, will the world revert back to its polluting ways post the end of this pandemic to spurt demand? Early signs are discouraging and pointing to business as usual.