AP's Seth Borenstein on CO2: "most of it stays in the air for a century"

Greenhouse gas milestone; CO2 levels set record : page all - NorthJersey.com

"Physically, we are no worse off at 400 ppm than we were at 399 ppm," Princeton University climate scientist Michael Oppenheimer said. "But as a symbol of the painfully slow pace of measures to avoid a dangerous level of warming, it's somewhat unnerving." ... Carbon dioxide traps heat just like in a greenhouse and most of it stays in the air for a century; some lasts for thousands of years, scientists say. ... "What we see today is 100 percent due to human activity," said Tans, a NOAA senior scientist. ... The speed of the change is the big worry, said Pennsylvania State University climate scientist Michael Mann. If carbon dioxide levels go up 100 parts per million over thousands or millions of years, plants and animals can adapt. But that can't be done at the speed it is now happening.