Denial hits 400ppm
by David Atkins
Here is what Republicans are saying:
Back on planet Earth, concentrations of CO2 just edged past 400 parts per million.
What does that mean? Well, the relationship between global temperature and CO2 has been well established. It doesn't take effect immediately, but it's inevitable. The last time we had sustained 400ppm CO2 in the atmosphere?
A 2009 article in Science reported that when CO2 concentrations were sustained at this level 15 million years ago, it was 5° to 10°F warmer and seas were 75 to 120 feet higher.
For the record, 10 degrees Fahrenheit warmer and 120 feet higher sea levels might spell the end of civilization as we know it.
And it's not like we're going to stop at 400ppm, either, at our current rate:
Conservatives don't live in the same reality the rest of us do. But they'll die in it all the same.
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