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Originally Posted by Robbie
That sounds pretty scientific!
I agree 100% about deforestation. But don't forget that those same plants "respire" at night when they aren't able to photosynthesize and then they release: carbon dioxide (just like you do every time you exhale)
I'm not suggesting that plants are a problem...we need more forests and more trees obviously. I'm just pointing out that they do release carbon dioxide as well.
Also the ocean itself releases about 330 Gigatons of CO2 every year as well. Not sure if we're gonna be able to shut the ocean off or not. lol
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Yes, plants and the oceans do release CO2 but they also absorb as much or more as they produce. The oceans do release 332 gigatons per year, but at the same time absorb 337 gigatons per year. So its all a question of balance. Also, the polar ice caps reflect quite a bit of sunlight back into space, as they become smaller and smaller less of that is reflected back and add to that the added CO2 in that frozen ice.
A bigger issue though that scientists didnt account for is the release of methane from the melting ice. Methane is 25 times more efficient at trapping solar heat compared to CO2. The energy companies and some governments see this as an opportunity for more energy production which is why there is a reluctance to act.
I have lived in or near the Rocky Mountains my whole life and over the past decade have noticed that the winters are getting shorter and snow levels have decreased quite a bit and is getting worse. This snow supplies water to The Colorado River, the Arkansas, the Rio Grande, and the Platte Rivers which in turn supply drinking water to over 40 million people in the SW United States. You can probably find a few posts on here from me a few years ago expressing my concern about these rivers drying up and just this spring the Colorado River was placed as the #1 most endangered river in the country. If these rivers dry up, and I predict they will, it is going to be something like we've never seen before.