How can earth recover from increased CO2 emissions? Can rocks answer this question?

The climate change is thought by many environmentalists to be the biggest environmental threat of our time. Reducing the increase of carbon emissions is connected with many difficulties and there are many studies that deal with this topic. One of the most interesting ones comes from the Oxford University scientists who have studied the connection between climate change and rocks.

The conclusion of this latest study was that Earth can recover from high carbon dioxide emissions faster than previously  thought, and that this process takes around 300,000 years after emissions decline.

They have concluded this by studying the effects of climate change that occurred 93 million years ago by examining rocks from locations including Beachy Head, near Eastbourne, and South Ferriby, North Lincolnshire.

The purpose of examining these rocks was to determine how chemical weathering of rocks was able to re-balance the climate after vast amounts of carbon dioxide (CO₂) were emitted during more than 10,000 years of volcanic eruptions.

Chemical weathering refers to process where "CO₂ from the atmosphere dissolved in rainwater reacts with rocks such as basalt or granite, dissolving them so that this atmospheric carbon then flows into the oceans, where a large proportion is 'trapped' in the bodies of marine organisms. "

By examining the rocks researchers discovered that chemical weathering increased with time, sinking away more CO₂ as the world warmed and thus enabling the Earth to stabilize to a cooler climate within 300,000 years, up to four times faster than previously thought.

This study is another proof to thesis that Earth has many "secret mechanisms" that regulate climate and climate change effects which scientists are yet to discover. Perhaps the best thing to learn about our current and future climate is to look for the clues from the past.

Increased CO2 to cause extinction of many marine species

Carbon dioxide (CO2) levels continue to grow, primarily because world is still heavily dependent on fossil fuels. If we fail to reduce further growth in CO2 emissions this will cause further temperature increase and lead to rapid increase in ocean acidity.

 The U.S. scientists from the University of California say that our planet will warm at least 2 degrees Celsius by the middle of this century in the business as usual scenario. This will increase acidity of our oceans by more than 60 percent, leading to likely extinction of many marine species.

The scientists also believe that current protection policies and management practices are inadequate and won't be enough to save many marine species from extinction.

The successful marine management is about to become extremely difficult, if not impossible, and world leaders should be already addressing this issue in hope to at least find solutions that would reduce the total damage to marine ecosystems.

Why are oceans becoming more acidic with the increase of CO2 in the atmosphere? This is because oceans sink giant quantities of C02 (about one quarter of our global carbon emissions), and the more CO2 there is in the atmosphere the more of it will be absorbed by oceans.

Among species most vulnerable to ocean acidification are corals and shellfish. The species with calcium carbonate skeletons and shells such as corals have very small chance to adapt to these changes in acidity and many of them will likely perish from our oceans, resulting in a gigantic damage to entire marine food web because these species play vital role at the bottom of marine food chain.

The only way to stop ocean acidity is to stabilize or reduce CO2 levels in the atmosphere, and quite frankly this can't be done without an international climate deal. Given the current state of global politics, new climate deal is nowhere to be seen.

The world leaders still fail to spot the magnitude of this major environmental issue, and are much more worried about global financial situation than how our planet feels and looks.

Biodiversity in our oceans needs to be preserved because this is one of the things on which our future wellbeing will depend on it.

Carbon capture and storage technology against climate change?

Carbon emissions continue to grow because our entire industry still heavily relies on fossil fuels. Transition to renewable energy still mostly looks like a distant dream and this is the main reason why there is so much talk and ongoing research involving different carbon capture and storage technologies.

Capturing carbon and then subsequently sequestering it underground would contribute to less greenhouse gases in our atmosphere, therefore reducing the global climate change impact.

The bad news is that there are still no commercially viable power plants equipped to capture carbon dioxide on a large scale, a few small-scale and pilot plants do exist, but they are yet to become commercially utilized.

The currently available carbon capture and storage technologies don't come cheap because they are highly energy intensive and science is still on a lookout for material(s) that would enable lower energy intensity and decrease total costs.

Highly polluting coal power plants are still dominant in large part of the world and are together with our cars major carbon emitters. There has been lot of talk about „clean coal technologies“but coal still remains anything but clean energy source.

The transition to renewable energy still looks like the best option to stave off the worst consequences of climate change. However, given the current rate of transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy it looks like there won't be enough time left for us to use renewable energy sources as our main weapon against global warming and climate change.

Because of this shortage of time carbon capture and storage looks like the only logical way to reduce carbon emissions sufficiently in order to prevent worst climate change scenario.

The ongoing research should primarily focus on the energy costs of carbon capture because this is the main factor that will determine the commerciality of these new technologies.

The governments should play their part too in offering incentives and tax benefits to power plants that implement carbon capture and storage technologies.

We need to speed things up because climate change won't give us too much time do something about it.

World has again failed to reduce CO2 emissions

World is still failing the most important mission in tackling the climate change threat- reducing global level of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. In the last week of the May, 2011, carbon emissions were at an all time high level by being measured at 394.97 ppm by the US government's Earth Systems Research Laboratory at Mauna Loa in Hawaii, which represents an increase of almost 1.6 ppm compared to 2010.

Even the post-recession period that caused a certain economic slowdown in many western countries wasn't enough to stop the rise of CO2 emissions on global level. This is mostly because there has been rise of new economic giants, China and India. These two countries combined in 2010 for more than 60% of the energy emissions increase.

The world is getting extremely close to emission level of 400 ppm, a level which many scientists believe we must avoid at any cost if we are to have a decent chance of tackling the climate change. The current annual increase of 1.5-2 ppm is not giving us plenty of reasons for optimism, and world is currently not doing enough to stabilize the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

The global economy needs to be decarbonized and this cannot be achieved without the new international climate deal that would oblige all countries to massive CO2 cuts. The difference in opinion between the developed and the developing world has been the main stumbling block in reaching the international unity needed to tackle climate change, and sadly this issue doesn't look to be solved any time soon.

World has to do anything in its power to prevent the 2C temperature increase (an increase which many scientists believe would cause the climate change to run out of control). Without reducing the emissions, and passing beyond the 2C millions of people around the globe will be exposed to frequent extreme weather events, drought, hunger and flooding.

World leaders need to act quickly or else this potential scary scenario will soon become a sad reality, a shameful legacy that will be left to our children and grandchildren to cope with.

The climate talks will soon be resumed in Bonn, Germany and world leaders will yet again fail to reach the final agreement. Why? Because individual interests still outweigh global interests, and most of all because the humanity’s real values have been blinded by the greed for more money and more power.

Connection between climate change and CO2 emissions

The increased levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are regarded by many scientists as the main reason for the ongoing climate change problem. Carbon emissions have started growing since the start of the industrial revolution, and the worst period was the end of the 20th century, after which world leaders started taking climate change issue more seriously. Sadly, still not serious enough to agree upon new climate deal that would oblige countries to significantly reduce their CO2 emissions.

What will happen if the world fails to reduce the level of carbon emissions in near future? According to scientists climate change could reach catastrophic proportions in form of frequent flooding, drought, global sea level rise, extinction of many animal and plant species, more hunger and new diseases.

According to the latest study from the U.S. scientist Jeffrey Kiehl of the National Center for Atmospheric Research if industrial carbon dioxide emissions continue unabated, atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide could by 2100 reach levels not seen by more than 30 million years, when Earth’s average temperature was 25 to 30 degrees F warmer than today.

This study also claims that if carbon dioxide continue with the current trend this will result in levels of carbon dioxide in to atmosphere of 900 to 1,000 parts per million by 2100 — triple levels two centuries ago.

This basically means that the world leaders by failing to agree new climate deal are putting our planet "on a trajectory that the human species has never experienced". According to Kiehl our planet is probably also twice as sensitive to CO2 as currently believed, since models do not factor in the amplifying effect that melting ice sheets and sea ice will have on warming.

The latest Cancun climate talks have provided us with some glimpses of hope that the new climate deal is still possible. But the world doesn't have the luxury of time and its disposal, so hopefully we won't have to wait too long for the new international climate deal to be agreed upon.

Will world be able to curb carbon emissions?

The only logical solution against climate change is to curb carbon emissions on global level, and this means that world needs to cut dependence on fossil fuels, and use clean energy to satisfy its ever-growing energy needs. China, the world fastest developing economy, has recently overtook US and became the world's biggest carbon emitter, and therefore a lot will depend upon China's ability to curb carbon emissions in years to come.

Last November China made a promise to cut its carbon dioxide emissions per unit of gross domestic product by 40 to 45 percent by 2020 compared with the level from 2005, and it is good to know that China really wants to make this happen. According to the China's Minister of Environmental Protection, Zhou Shengxian, "the old path of economic growth based on environmental pollution implemented in developed countries over the past 300 years is not feasible in China, and China can not afford the losses brought by this development mode".

China still heavily relies on coal and other fossil fuels but renewable energy is also becoming increasingly important. China is already world's largest manufacturer of solar panels as well as wind turbines, and continues to heavily invest in clean energy, energy efficiency, and other ecological solutions to curb carbon emissions.

China's government is really trying to maximally stimulate the development of clean and low-carbon energies, including hydroelectric, nuclear, wind and solar power. China's current clean energy goal is to get 15 percent of power from non-fossil sources by 2020, and if China continue this current path, it will make it happen.

It has to be said that China is not the only country that needs to work on ways to reduce carbon emissions, United States must do the same. U.S. is the country that mainly contributed to climate change problem after being world's biggest CO2 polluter for so many years, and thus should lead the way when it comes to solving climate change issue.

Climate change is global issue, and requires global efforts that should result in the form of new climate deal. Copenhagen infamously failed, will it be better luck next time?

China's dependence on coal causing not only environmental damage

China's recent economic boom is mostly based on coal as its primary fuel but such huge economy growth has too many negative impacts, and not only from environmental point of view. Latest report by Greenpeace China, WWF, and the Energy Foundation shows that coal is mostly responsible for air pollution, water shortages, polluted soil, ecosystem degradation, widespread human illness, and injuries or deaths related to mining accidents.

We already knew that air pollution is taking heavy toll in China, but latest report is showing even worse data as air pollution from coal has become so bad in China that chronic respiratory disease has become a leading cause of death. Water shortages have become regular in many China's regions since for every ton of coal produced two-and-a-half tons of water become polluted. Acid rain as a result of excessive coal production is almost constant in one third of China's territory.

And there is of course the biggest problem of them all, namely the climate change. many scientists believe that China recently overtook US as the world's leading CO2 emitter, where coal burning holds dominant place with about 80 % of total China's CO2 emissions. Chinese government did some moves that should increase total percentage of renewables in China's energy sector but this is still negligible because use of coal hasn't yet showed signs of slowing down.

For instance in 2007 China consumed massive 1311 million tons of coal so you could imagine the impact this has on climate change. However though China leads the way in coal consumption, some other states, most notably US should raise some questions about their energy policy, because US consumed 574 million tons of coal in 2007. Big coal users like China, US, Australia are nations mostly responsible for global warming, but still these countries haven't done nothing significant that would change their energy policies in order to significantly decrease dependence on coal. Despite huge environmental, social, and economic losses caused by coal.