Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

Doesn't the plot on that page directly contradict that?

It was effectively flat from 2012-2017, then small upticks in 2018 and 2019?

The second derivative of CO2 seems to show a huge decrease in the last few years.




Atmospheric CO2 growth rate over time

https://gml.noaa.gov/ccgg/trends/gl_gr.html

Year-by-year is alot of noise, but over decades we see mostly steady accelleration.


There were similar "flattenings" in the early 80's

If you had a plateau with twice the number of points (years) than any previous plateau then I would buy that something was going on.

But sadly - we don't.


I would also assume that there are still billions of people around the world aspiring to live lifestyles like people in the US/Western Europe, so absent the development of an energy source comparable to the convenience and low price of fossil fuels, any slack in demand from US/Western Europe will be picked up by the poorer billions.


I'm at least hopefully because this one appears longer (~9 years; if you count 2012-2019; most of the other drops were shorter and seem to be tied to major economic events - the 73 and 79 oil crises, fall of the Soviet Union in 91 and subsequent recession in Eastern Europe, and the great recession in 2009.

Seeing an apparent flattening in a period of major economic growth is really encouraging.




Consider applying for YC's Spring batch! Applications are open till Feb 11.

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: