Quote:
Originally Posted by richardda1st
But it is inevitable that if the current population keeps on burning fossil fuel at this rate, whilst at the same time continues to clear forests, the pollution will continue to increase to a level where the CO2 is TOXIC.
|
Don't think so Richard. At the moment, CO2 is a trace gas consisting only 0.038% of the current atmosphere - that's 380 parts per million. For CO2 to be toxic we need around 1% (or 10,000 parts per million) for some humans to even start to be drowsy. There needs to be over 7% in the atmosphere by volume for dizzyness to occur - at which point it really is poisonous. That's 70,000 ppm, or 184 times the current levels.
I don't think so - not in ours or our childrens lifetimes. This is not to say that at these levels, the greenhouse effect would likely be greatly exacerbated.
When are we all going to stop discussing the politics of climate on this astronomy forum?