Pre-industrial levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide never exceeded 275 ppm during all of human existence but now exceeds 400 ppm (Gleick, 2013). Prof. Jennifer Frances of Rutgers University (2013) shows proof that fossil fuel carbon dioxide pollution has caused a massive atmospheric temperature rise since 1960. Furthermore this carbon dioxide build up has a delayed temperature anomaly of more than 12oC and is causing an increase in the severity of storm systems as the evaporation puts more energy into the atmosphere. There is uncertainty about when this sudden delayed temperature anomaly will occur in the future but an earlier anomaly was delayed by some 1000 years, 17,500 years ago (Shakun et al. 2012).

In the last 200 years the methane concentration in the atmosphere as increased by three times and at a much faster rate than the carbon dioxide to which it oxidises to in over 10 to 30 years (Shakova 2013). Furthermore over periods of a few months to a few years methane has a global warming potential from 1000 to 100 times that of carbon dioxide (Carana, 2013; Light 2013). IPCC estimate that all global methane emissions and natural sources are some 548 million tonnes/year with some estimates as high as 852 million tonnes/year while hydroxyl breaks down about 540 million tonnes of this methane per year (Carana, 2013). The IPCC has decided not to warn people about the danger that these large methane emissions will lead to abrupt climate change within decades (Carana, 2013).

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