Geoheresy

MAINSTREAM MEDIA INNUMERACY

My attention was drawn to the latest media reporting that CO2 has increased 2.5% per year since 2000 according to the Global Carbon Project reported here. The source document is of two pages with lots of pretty coloured graphics (presumably on the basis that pictures are equivalent to a thousand words) and available here.

Now they state in Policy Document 5 "That the growth rate of atmospheric CO2 was 2.05ppm per year,.." (page 1).

Express this as a percentage we calculate (2.05/1,000,000)x100 = 0.000205% per year.

Or should they have said (2.05/380)x100 = 0.54% per year?

Either way rather much smaller than 2.5% per year isn't it.

Wikipedia states that according to NOAA 97% of atmospheric CO2 is created from natural sources leaving 3% to human activities.

And As of 2006, the earth's atmosphere is about 0.038% by volume (381 µL/L or ppmv) or 0.057% by weight CO2.

3% of 381 ppmv = 11.43 ppmv which is the human contribution

AND

if each year an extra 2.05 ppmv of CO2 is added to atmospheric CO2, then the anthropogenic component is 3% of 2.05, or 0.06 ppmv by definition.

PER YEAR THE ANTHROPOGENIC CONTRIBUTION TO CO2 EMISSIONS IS 0.06ppmv or

0.00000615% of CO2 per year.

Each year we therefore seem to add 0.06 ppmv to 11.43 = 11.49 ppmv

The earth, all by itself, adds, at the current interpreted rate, 1.99 ppmv per year to CO2 levels in the atmosphere.

Figure it out!

HUMANS - 0.06ppmv CO2 per year
GAIA - 1.99ppmv CO2 per year