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Addressing The Great Disconnect : National Aeronautics And Space Administration

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Carlee Dawn Haas
Mr. Jasen Bacon
English 1020
7/30/2014
Addressing the Great Disconnect “If you wanted to create a diabolical problem, it is hard to imagine doing it better than releasing CO2 into the atmosphere” (Newell and Pitman 1007). According to “Target Atmospheric CO2: Where Should Humanity Aim?”, a scientific article written by scientists involved with National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Columbia University Earth Institute, Boston University, Yale University, and many more prestigious programs and universities, the highest limit for CO2 that is still considered “safe” for the public and the planet is 350 parts per million(ppm) (Hansen, Sato, Kharecha, Beerling, Berner, Delmotte, Pagani, Raymo, Royer, and Zachos 1). However, the atmospheric levels of CO2 have remained higher than 350 parts per million since January of 1988, with the most current level being reported at 401.30 parts per million in June 2014 (Keeling, Piper, Bacastow, Wahlen, Whorf, Heimann, and Meijer 83-113). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), well-known as the leading organization for the assessment of global warming and climate change, conducted an assessment report in 2007 that stated, with a 90% level of certainty, that the rising temperature of the Earth is a direct result of human activity and is also heavily linked to industrial processes (Solomon, Qin, Manning, Chen, Marquis, Averyt, Tignor and Miller 1-996). Even more disappointing, according to the

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