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188 comments on DrumBeat: May 27, 2007

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LeGorfou on May 27, 2007 - 5:33pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Really only the last 50 or 60 years. Before that the consumption of fossil fuels was relatively insignificant.

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Bitteroldcoot on May 27, 2007 - 5:48pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Coal counts as fossil fuel and was used for the industrial revolution since the 1800's.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_coal_mining

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LeGorfou on May 29, 2007 - 2:18am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

They have burnt "sea coal" in Great Britain since medieval times. However with a small and rural population, I doubt if we got to 10% of todays consumption before the early part of the last century.

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Valuethinker on May 29, 2007 - 2:35am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

The key is the 'tipping point'.

At what point did our CO2 emissions increase past the ability of the natural environment to sequester them out of the atmosphere?

This is complicated by the fact that the absorption of the oceans etc. increased as CO2 concentrations increased, thus partially shielding us from the consequences of our actions.

The latest data suggests the planet is no longer doing so. Co2 concentrations have abruptly shifted by 3ppm per annum, whereas previously the rise was 1.9ppm

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