Facts and Figures
Here is just a small portion of the research that went into Carbon Fever. The facts and figures on carbon presented here were accurate at the time of writing ( March 2006 )
The current concentration of cO 2 ( carbon dioxide ) in the atmosphere is 381,000 ppbv ( parts per billion volume ) according to the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. NOAA.
When added to other sources of atmospheric carbon such as Hydrocarbons ( cH 4 -methane ) and cFc's ( Chlorofluorocarbons such as cfc 12 ) the total amount of carbon runs to approximately 423,023 ppbv. According to the UN environment Programme's Introduction to climate change the Pre-industrial concentration was approximately 279,000 ppbv. More than a third increase since the 18 th century
1 ppbv of cO 2 in the earth's atmosphere is equivalent to 2.13 million metric tons of carbon. This equates to a total weight of 901,060,290,000 or just over 900billion tons of carbon in the sky. creation of cO2 is roughly 18.5% residential, 15.4% commercial, 34.2% industrial & 30.7% by transportation. The two developed countries with the highest carbon out put per capita are Australia and the USA.
The Kyoto environmental Accord of 1997 was eventually ratified by 141 countries representing a commitment by almost the entire developed world to reduce carbon output by 5.2% by 2012. The only two developed nations who opted out of Kyoto were Australia and the USA ( which alone accounts for 25% - 35% of global emissions ).
Several leading scientists are already predicting we are now at too advanced a stage of atmospheric atrophy to reverse the effects. In 2005 the UK government revealed that it had failed to reach its midway targets for Kyoto.