Greenhouse gases on the rise in Europe

News reports concerning the alarming emissions of carbon dioxide are making Europeans nervous and making them wonder why solar energy is not implemented more. These toxic gases could give Europe the sort of tropical climate not seen there for millions of years. Temperatures similar to recent heat waves could become commonplace by the end of the century. University of Bristol researchers investigated conditions found on Earth during the early Paleogene, a period 56-48 million years ago and determined that carbon dioxide levels were about the same as those predicted for the end of the century due to the massive quantities of greenhouse gases humans are sending into the atmosphere.

Climate scientists seek to understand high carbon levels

Consequently, this era is of significant interest to climate scientists seeking to understand the results of such high carbon dioxide levels. Scrupulous analysis of ancient peat fossils allowed the scientists to estimate temperatures 50 million years ago.

"We know that the early Paleogene was characterized by a greenhouse climate with elevated carbon dioxide levels,” said Dr. David Naafs, an earth scientist at the University of Bristol. "Most of the existing estimates of temperatures from this period are from the ocean, not the land – what this study attempts to answer is exactly how warm it got on land during this period.” The scientists found that annual land temperatures in Western Europe and New Zealand were between 23C and 29C - higher than first thought.

What does climate change do to the planet?

If the same conditions emerge in coming years it could have serious repercussions. Professor Rich Pancost, one of the study’s co-authors said: "Our work adds to the evidence for a very hot climate under potential end-of-century carbon dioxide levels. Importantly, we also study how the Earth system responded to that warmth. For instance, this and other extra hot time periods were associated with evidence for arid conditions and extreme rainfall events." 97 percent of climate scientists agree on the fundamental problem. Man is causing this pollution and man can stop it. But there has to be the political action for this to occur.

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