Carbon emissions not only increase, but do so faster than imagined

Articles — By forcechange on September 29, 2008 5:00 am

Even as the looming risk of climate change becomes a more common topic of discussion in the media and with global leaders, the reality of greenhouse gas emissions continues to worsen.  Dot Earth notes that a recent report shows that carbon emissions around the world are actually accelerating, and at a pace that is more rapid than predicted.  In fact, emissions have grown so much that they are now on the outer boundary of those scenarios considered by the IPCC last year. 

Additionally, the report notes that the natural mechanisms that normally help to remove CO2 from the air, such as oceans and plant life, have failed to keep up with these increases.  Between the years of 1959 to 2000, these carbon sinks absorbed approximately 57% of emissions.  That percentage has now fallen to 54%. 

A trend of special note taken from this report is that now, more than half of all greenhouse gas emissions are from developing countries.  The world is already in an unsustainable situation, the thought of emissions getting worse instead of better is pretty worrisome.

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