Greenhouse gases rise despite global recession
WASHINGTON, DC, April 21, 2009 (ENS) – Atmospheric concentrations of two of the most potent global warming gases rose last year, according to a preliminary analysis for the annual greenhouse gas index compiled by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, which tracks data from 60 sites around the world. At the end of December 2008, researchers measured an additional 16.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide, CO2, a byproduct of fossil fuel burning, and 12.2 million tons of methane in the atmosphere. Human activities that emit methane include fossil fuel production, animal husbandry, rice cultivation, biomass burning, and waste management landfills. These increases occurred despite the global economic downturn, which slowed many activities that depend on burning coal, oil and gas. “Only by reducing our dependence on fossil fuels and increasing energy production from renewable resources will we start to see improvements and begin to lessen the effects of climate change,” said scientist Pieter Tans of NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado. “At NOAA we have monitored carbon dioxide emissions and other greenhouses gases for decades and will continue to do so to help assess the situation and advise decision makers,” he said. … “Atmospheric CO2 growth is best reflected by the world population trend,” said Hofmann. “The two have tracked each other extremely well over the past century. A break in the close relation between population growth and CO2 growth would be a clear sign of progress in the inevitable need to limit atmospheric CO2.”
