Health Care Law's Unpopularity Reaches New Highs

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The Inevitable 2014 Headline: ‘Global CO2 Level Reaches 400 PPM For First Time In Human Existence.’

By Peter Gleick, via Science Blogs

Sometime, about one year from now, the front pages of whatever decent newspapers are left will carry a headline like the one above, announcing that for the first time in human existence (or in nearly a million years, or 3 million years, or 15 million years), the global atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide — the principal gas causing climate change — will have passed 400 parts per million (ppm).

That’s a significant and shocking figure. Unfortunately, it’s only a temporary marker on the way to even higher and higher levels. Here are the most recent (March 2013) data from the Mauna Loa observatory showing the inexorable increase in atmospheric CO2 and the rapid approach to 400 ppm.

There is a range of estimates around the detailed time record of atmospheric composition, and the study of changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations over the billions of years of the Earth’s existence is an exciting area for research. A commonly cited figure with strong evidence comes from measurements of air trapped in ancient ice cores obtained from Antarctic ice. We now have a detailed 800,000 year record, which shows clearly that atmospheric CO2 levels never approached 400 ppm during this period.

In December 2009, a research team from UCLA published a paper in Science that suggested we would have to go back at least 15 million years to find carbon dioxide levels approaching today’s levels. This research used isotopic analysis of shells in deep sea sediments, and reported that CO2 concentrations may not have exceeded 400 parts per million since the Mid-Miocene Climatic Optimum (MMCO) — between 16 and 14 million years ago. The MMCO was associated with reduced planetary ice volumes, global sea levels 25 to 40 meters higher than today, and warmer ocean temperatures. Decreasing CO2 concentrations after that were associated with substantial global cooling, glaciations, and dropping sea levels.

Gavin Schmidt of NASA’s GISS has pointed me to research in a December 2011 article in the journal Paleoceanography by Gretta Bartoli, Bärbel Hönisch, and Richard E. Zeebe, reporting on paleoclimatic records that suggest CO2 concentrations (at least in the Northern Hemisphere) may have been around 400 ppm between 2 and 4.6 million years ago. This evidence comes from isotopes measured in planktic foraminifer shells spanning 2.0 to 4.6 million years ago and indicates that atmospheric CO2 estimates during the Pliocene gradually declined from just above 400 ppm to around 300 ppm in the early Pleistocene 2 million years ago.

800,000 years ago? Three million years ago? 15 million years ago? More research will continue to clarify the variability of Earth’s atmospheric composition over time, as well as the impacts for the planet as a whole of screwing with it. (That’s a technical term…)

But the more important point to remember is that never in the history of the planet have humans altered the atmosphere as radically as we are doing so now. And the climatic consequences for us are likely to be radical as well, on a time-scale far faster than humans have ever experienced.

– Dr. Peter Gleick is a climatologist. This post originally appeared on Science Blogs and is reprinted here with permission.

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Flu Reaches Epidemic Proportions in US

 Highlight transcript below to create clipTranscript:  Print  |  Email Go  Click text to jump within videoMon 14 Jan 13 | 10:38 AM ET CNBC's Bertha Coombs reports on the economic impact of the widespread outbreak of flu. Also, Dominic Ruocco, The Doctors' Office Walk-in Clinic co-owner, explains how hospitals and clinics are handling the rush of patients.

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Schumer: Better than even odds Congress reaches fiscal deal

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) suggested that odds are better than even that legislators will come to a last-minute agreement to prevent "fiscal cliff" spending cuts and tax rate increases.

Schumer, speaking Sunday on ABC's "This Week," said that while legislators have not yet announced a compromise, a deal could still come just before the year-end deadline. 

"I've been a legislator for 37 years, and I've watched how these things work. On these big, big agreements, they almost always happen at the last minute," Schumer said. "Neither side likes to give up its position.  They eyeball each other until the very end.  But then, each side, realizing that the alternative is worse, comes to an agreement.  So while an agreement is hardly a certainty, I certainly wouldn't rule it out at this last minute.

Schumer said the odds seemed "a little higher" than 50-50. 

Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), also a guest Sunday on This Week, said he didn't disagree with Schumer's assessment.

"I also would say that the way you opened the program does not under- or overstate the consequences," Kyl said. "If we are not able to reach an agreement, it will be dire.  And that's from everybody, from the Congressional Budget Office, which is nonpartisan, as you know, to the Fed chairman, probably at least another million jobs lost, an unemployment rate over 9 percent, and putting us back into recession.  So responsible people on both sides of the aisle do need to try to come together, and there is a significant effort underway right now."

Schumer and Kyl's comments come as Senate leaders continued negotiations this weekend on a deal to avoid the tax rate increases and spending cuts taking effect in January. Reports suggested that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) were focusing on a plan to prevent rising taxes on most families.

Schumer said that one reason for optimism is that both Democrats and Republicans want to extend the Bush-era tax rates for income up to $250,000 a year. Republicans, though want to raise the rates for income-earners above that cut-off, while President Obama and Democrats insist that the wealthy pay more in taxes.

"Nobody wants to raise taxes on people below $250,000," Schumer said. "And that will be the impetus and why both of us have some degree of optimism that we can avoid this fiscal cliff in the next 24 hours."

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Petition To Deport CNN Host For Gun Control Support Reaches 60,000 Signatures

A petition to deport CNN host Piers Morgan over his heated comments on gun control has reached more than 62,000 signatures in just 4 days, far exceeding the threshold required for a White House response. A petition must get 25,000 signatures in 30 days in order to elicit a response.

In the wake of the elementary school shooting in Connecticut that left 27 dead, Morgan has become a vocal advocate for tighter gun regulations. Specifically, he is calling for a ban on high-capacity magazines and assault weapons, as well as strict background checks on gun sales. According to the petition, Morgan’s comments are no less than “a hostile attack against the U.S. Constitution”:

British Citizen and CNN television host Piers Morgan is engaged in a hostile attack against the U.S. Constitution by targeting the Second Amendment. We demand that Mr. Morgan be deported immediately for his effort to undermine the Bill of Rights and for exploiting his position as a national network television host to stage attacks against the rights of American citizens.

Of course, Morgan is protected by another constitutional amendment: the First. The CNN host has continued to exercise his rights by openly mocking the petition on Twitter.

Democratic lawmakers have promised to address gun safety immediately upon the start of the 113th Congress in January. Meanwhile, the National Rifle Association refused to cede any ground after the Newtown tragedy, calling for armed guards in every school and stricter scrutiny on the video game industry and opposing any measure limiting gun access.

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