{"id":277,"date":"2019-12-14T21:40:59","date_gmt":"2019-12-14T21:40:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digitalprojects.davidson.edu\/writingscience\/?p=277"},"modified":"2019-12-14T21:41:01","modified_gmt":"2019-12-14T21:41:01","slug":"its-not-just-a-phase","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digitalprojects.davidson.edu\/writingscience\/post-1-spring-2019\/its-not-just-a-phase\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s Not Just a Phase"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"> H. Holck <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Contrary to popular opinion, Earth is not just going through another natural atmospheric \u2018phase.\u2019 The increase in atmospheric CO<sub>2<\/sub> is not another fluctuation of natural trends. In 2016, the U.S. released over 6,511 million metric tons of CO<sub>2<\/sub> into the atmosphere, thereby contributing to the increase in atmospheric CO<sub>2.<\/sub>* A study published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows that today\u2019s CO<sub>2<\/sub> levels drastically exceed historical levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"342\" height=\"161\" src=\"https:\/\/digitalprojects.davidson.edu\/writingscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/image-11.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-279\" srcset=\"https:\/\/digitalprojects.davidson.edu\/writingscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/image-11.png 342w, https:\/\/digitalprojects.davidson.edu\/writingscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/image-11-300x141.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 342px) 100vw, 342px\" \/><figcaption> The atmospheric concentration of CO<sub>2<\/sub> in parts per million (ppm) over 800,000 years before 2017. **<em>From NOAA<\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"> NOAA used sensitive methods to measure atmospheric CO<sub>2<\/sub> concentration over the past 800,000 years. In the past century, atmospheric CO<sub>2<\/sub> has increased rapidly unlike past trends when CO<sub>2<\/sub> concentration rose and fell but never exceeded 300 ppm. Although some might argue that today\u2019s highs are just typical fluctuations of the graph, 2017\u2019s atmospheric concentration is 30% higher than it has been for the last 800,000 years. Recent atmospheric CO<sub>2<\/sub> significantly rose from natural variation where CO<sub>2<\/sub> oscillated between 180 and 300 ppm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">NOAA\ndiscovered a significant increase in atmospheric CO<sub>2<\/sub> concentration,\nabove the historical high of 300 ppm, to a new record high of 405 ppm in\n2017. Because current levels deviate so significantly from historical levels, today\u2019s\nCO<sub>2<\/sub> concentration cannot be characterized as just another natural\natmospheric \u2018phase.\u2019 Raising awareness about high atmospheric CO<sub>2<\/sub>\nconcentration might lead to more activism to bring CO<sub>2<\/sub> below 300\nppm. Since fossil fuel consumption produces 93% of CO<sub>2<\/sub> emissions,\nalternative energy sources could help reduce atmospheric CO<sub>2<\/sub>.***\nBringing down CO<sub>2<\/sub> concentration to historical levels could restore\nthe Earth\u2019s atmosphere, paving the way for a brighter, greener future.*<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">* https<a href=\"http:\/\/www.epa.gov\/ghgemissions\/overview-greenhouse-gases#carbon-dioxide\">:\/\/www.epa.gov\/ghgemissions\/overview-greenhouse-gases#carbon-dioxide<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">**NOAA.\nClimate Change: Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide. 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">*** Draft Inventory of U.S.\nGreenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks. 2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>H. Holck Contrary to popular opinion, Earth is not just going through another natural atmospheric \u2018phase.\u2019 The increase in atmospheric CO2 is not another fluctuation of natural trends. In 2016, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":280,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","category-post-1-spring-2019","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalprojects.davidson.edu\/writingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalprojects.davidson.edu\/writingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalprojects.davidson.edu\/writingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalprojects.davidson.edu\/writingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalprojects.davidson.edu\/writingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/digitalprojects.davidson.edu\/writingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":281,"href":"https:\/\/digitalprojects.davidson.edu\/writingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277\/revisions\/281"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalprojects.davidson.edu\/writingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalprojects.davidson.edu\/writingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalprojects.davidson.edu\/writingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalprojects.davidson.edu\/writingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}