Carbon dioxide and people
Carbon dioxide and people
复制标题
二氧化碳与人类
作者：
N. D. Newell;Leslie Marcus
人口增长和大气二氧化碳(CO2)的稳定积累之间的相关性几乎是完美的(0.9985)。这两个增长率同时呈指数级增长。人类活动是大气二氧化碳增长的原因，而不是人口增长本身。它们包括燃烧化石燃料和木材、改变农业方法和砍伐森林。它们超过了所有自然来源的变化，包括岩石的风化、冰川融化、海水变暖、植被腐烂、季节性落叶和火山活动。人口学家和环保主义者可以使用二氧化碳的增加作为土地开发、人口增长、气候变化、自然环境变化和工业化的总体指标。二氧化碳分析可以加强人口普查，并提供人口普查期间的数据。在美国莫纳罗亚气象站和南极收集的二氧化碳数据显示，1958年大气二氧化碳含量为315.2/ppm，世界人口为29亿。格陵兰岛的冰芯分析发现，18000年前二氧化碳水平为225ppm，大约在公元1300年大陆冰川融化时，二氧化碳水平略有上升至271ppm。二氧化碳的程度随着季节的变化而波动很大。气候能源使用和森林砍伐模式的变化与二氧化碳上升趋势的不规则性相对应。大气中二氧化碳的这种上升为我们提供了一个经济发展速度的灵敏指标，并遵循了人类对环境施加的日益扩大的打击，例如1973年欧佩克石油价格的上涨。人口增长阻碍了降低贫困水平的所有活动。在目前的人口水平上减少能源使用将意味着生产率的降低和困难的增加，但世界上大多数国家都不愿面对这一点。为了避免灾难，需要超越人类行为和自然减员的国际合作。
The correlation between population growth and steady buildup of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) is almost perfect (.9985). Both growth rates rise exponentially simultaneously. Human activities account for atmospheric CO2 growth not population growth itself. They include burning of fossil fuels and wood changes in agricultural methods and deforestation. They exceed changes in all natural sources including weathering of rocks ice melting warming of sea water decay of vegetation seasonal defoliation and volcanic activity. Demographers and environmentalists can use the rise in CO2 as a gross index of land development population growth climatic changes change of natural environments and industrialization. CO2 analyses can reinforce censuses and supply data from periods between census surveys. CO2 data collected at the US Mauna Loa weather station and the South Pole show that in 1958 atmospheric CO2 was 315.2/ppm and the world population was 2.9 billion. Ice core analyses in Greenland find that CO2 levels were 225/ppm 18000 years ago and rose somewhat to 271/ppm around 1300 A.D. when the continental glaciers melted. The extent of CO2 fluctuates sizably with the seasons. Changing patterns of climate energy use and deforestation correspond to irregularities in the rising trend of CO2. This rise in atmospheric CO2 provides us with a sensitive gauge of the rate of economic development and follows the expanding blows humans exert on the environment e.g. the 1973 OPEC price hike of petroleum. Population growth stymies all activities to lower the poverty level. Reduced energy use at present population levels would mean reduced productivity and increased hardship but most of the world is reluctant to confront it. International cooperation beyond what human behavior had ever done before and attrition are needed to avoid catastrophe.