Grendel wrote on Dec 9
th, 2009 at 3:36pm:
... if we produce 8000 megatonnes nature produces 32.3 times more. Wonder why that bit doesn't cause climate change? Gee if it does... wonder what they are going to do about it... can't tax a planet I guess.
Grendel - I'll remind you once more about the posting rules. No changing other contributors' nicknames. If you don't like it, post elsewhere. Let's keep it civil.
Now where did you get that 32 from? Let's talk in
thousands of gigatonnes.Let's look at it in detail - To get a figure of times 32, you'd have to take a total carbon flux from fossil fuel and cement production of 8, and 32 times 8 is 256.
That 256 must include about +90 from the oceans and +60 from soils and +60 from forests. That gives us 210 so far, and other minor emissions take us up to about 250 or so. OK, we won't argue about that. The actual fossil fuel derived flux has increased from 5 to 8 in the past 10 years.
However, the positive flux (to the atmosphere) of 90 from the oceans is
balanced by a negative flux of 92, giving us a
net flux of -2.
The 60 from the land and 60 from soils is
balanced by a negative flux (Carbon sink) of -120 or so. So there is no net flux between the land and the atmosphere. Actually that varies a little bit from year to year.
So as you can see, if you conveniently forget about the carbon sinks, and just talk about carbon emissions, then strictly speaking, the statement is correct. However in terms of net fluxes, we are emitting about 8 thousand Gigatonnes, and about 6 of that is ending up in the atmosphere. The other 2 is ending up in the ocean.
Clear as mud? As you can see, a dishonest argument can be used to create a false impression.