THE GREEN CORNER - Dan Dibble 
 
What's all the fuss about 350 PPM? (most of this information and more
can be found on the www.350.org website)
 
350 PPM refers to the amount of carbon dioxide particles in the
atmosphere in relation to other compounds. The number (or concentration
of carbon) is important because of how the atmosphere reacts to the
sun's radiation. The earth's atmosphere acts like a glass window (or a
greenhouse) by allowing much of the sun's radiation to hit the earth,
much of it transformed into heat, which is then trapped and keeps the
earth from becoming as cold as space. The make up of the atmospheric
"window" determines how much radiation reaches the earth's surface and
how much is retained. This is a delicate balance: too much "stuff" in
the outer atmosphere and too much radiation is reflected, lowering the
temp of the earth's surface, too little and we get "cooked". This
atmospheric mix is what makes earth good for our kind of life forms and
Venus or Mars not so good.
 
The history of the atmosphere is recorded in the earth's crust and in
the earth's ice layers. Those deposits show that, for most of earth's
history, the CO2 content has been around 275 PPM. That started
dramatically changing when humans began burning fossil fuels for power
and heat, about two hundred years ago. Presently, we have about 387 PPM
CO2 and that number is rising at a rate of almost 2 parts per million
every year. Whether this rise is due entirely to human activity or is a
result of human activity and natural cycles is immaterial. The fact
remains that we contribute to the increasing CO2 concentration and if we
don't reduce our contribution we will accelerate the change in
atmospheric makeup, which will add to the amount of heat the earth
retains, which will affect our climate and sea levels.
 
The most immediate and effective way of reducing carbon emissions is to
reduce our energy consumption. That is an immediate and money saving
option available to every one of us. The next steps are less immediate
and less effective but they include things like turning to less carbon
producing forms of energy generation. Another step would be to invest in
"Carbon Offsets" which are designed to fund research and development of
carbon capture or reduction. (For a discussion of carbon offsets and
renewable energy credits check out www.co2offsetresearch.org/consumer).
 
This is too important to leave to the experts to solve; we each can and
need to do something now. Learn more and then put that learning into
action to save money and the future for our children and grandchildren.