"A century ago, scientists feared global cooling.
Now they fear global warming.
What do the numbers really show us?
Global cooling is the talk of the town.
“Will we slip into another Ice Age?”
“Will the earth be able to support its population if the global temperatures continue to drop?”
“Could increasing carbon dioxide emissions save the day by offsetting the cooling?”
You might think this is a parody of the current global warming discussion.
However, global cooling truly was a serious concern at the end of the 1800s.
...New Equilibrium
If CO2 is causing global warming, it will eventually reach a saturation point, and temperatures will level off at a new equilibrium.
The last point needs more explanation.
The earth is a system of complex interactions that tend to balance out (called equilibrium).
Suppose water is flowing into a plastic bottle with different holes punched around the sides.
If the amount of water increases, the level of water will rise, but the water will also stream out the holes faster.
The level of water will rise until it reaches a new, stable level where the amount of water entering the bottle equals that which is leaving.
In a similar manner energy enters the earth through sunlight and leaves through infrared radiation from the earth.
Adding CO2 traps some energy, but more energy also begins leaking out of the earth’s atmosphere through radiation as the temperature rises.
Eventually the temperature will stabilize at a new equilibrium..."
Lots here, read on!
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