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Earth Releasing More CO2 Than Originally Thought

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the heavy-breathing dept.

grqb writes "A new study out of the UK suggests that terrestrial sinks across the planet are mopping up much less carbon than predicted, on balance, and so the planet may warm at an even faster rate than expected. The study focused on the carbon content in soil at 6000 sites in the UK between 1978 and 2003 and found that the soil released the equivalent of 8% of the UK's total 1990 carbon dioxide emissions. These emissions are more than the entire reduction in emissions the UK has achieved between 1990 and 2002 as part of its commitment to the Kyoto Protocol. This would effectively cancel out the UK's recent successes in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and would have wider global implications as well."

2 of 318 comments (clear)

  1. Careful with your real estate speculations... by fm6 · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Everybody assumes that global warming means a uniform rise in temperature and sea levels. (Peter Hamilton wrote some remarkably bad SF on that premise.) The planet's a tad more complicated than that. I don't know about Alaska, but I've seen reports claiming that Europe would likely get colder, because the Gulf Stream will probably be diverted. Other reports claim that sea levels in some areas would actually drop.

    So if you're investing in Global Warming, don't buy real estate -- too uncertain what will happen to it. You might consider wind farming...

  2. No surprise by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Shhhh... don't mention any sources of global warming (or cooling) that can't be blamed on the following:

    1) The United States, generally
    2) George W. Bush, personally
    3) White males
    4) Hummers (the vehicles, not the ... you know)
    5) Animal testing
    6) Microsoft
    7) Republicans
    8) Amazon.com's patent portfolio

    Good! Now, repeat after me: "All Hail Slashdot Groupthink! Flamebait == My Politics Differ! Troll = Possibly correct, but goes against my preconceived notions!"