The seriousness of the global warming issue can hardly be overstated. The reality of this event is self-evident. It took hundreds of millions of years for fossil fuels to accumulate in the Earth, yet humans have burned massive amounts of those resources in just the past 150 years. Common sense tells you that this kind of 'sudden' release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere will have significant consequences.
There have indeed been many, many good things for humanity that have come about because we have been able to utilize this energy source, but there is clearly also a problem side. We are seeing that side manifest itself now in pollution and global warming.
If I am elected to the Congress, one of my top priorities will be to deal positively with energy and global warming issues. One of the first things we can do is mandate greater fuel efficiency from automobiles -- that should help with gasoline prices as well.
Then, of course, we must immediately start a crash program to create and use alternative non-carbon-based energy sources.
As a Green member of Congress, I will be uniquely positioned to advocate for needed cultural, governmental and technological changes to help us survive global warming -- because I will not be obligated to any special interest group. Greens do not take corporate PAC money and we limit the size of the contributions we do take. My only duty, therefore, if elected, will be to do what is in the best interests of ALL the people.
Link: Record Levels of Carbon Dioxide | Rocky Mountain News
Atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide, the gas largely blamed for global warming, have hit record highs and appear to be rising at an accelerating rate, a Boulder scientist said Thursday.
Each year the burning of fossil fuels pumps more than 7 billion tons of carbon into the air in the form of heat-trapping carbon dioxide gas, or CO2 .
The preindustrial carbon dioxide level was 278 parts per million. The current concentration just hit a record 381 ppm, said Pieter Tans, an atmospheric scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Boulder. That's a 37 percent increase. ...
"It appears to be accelerating," Tans said of the atmospheric CO2 buildup.
He will present his findings Wednesday at a meeting of atmospheric scientists in Boulder.
"What we're seeing in the atmosphere reflects the fact that we're burning more fossil fuel and we're burning it faster," said NOAA atmospheric scientist Russell Schnell.
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