Cardinal Carminative
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- Apr 2, 2022
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Meaningful action to keep temperatures below a certain level, which may or may not have been realistic ... we certainly haven't hit any "tipping points" or points of no return yet
Curious how you know that.
... we've changed the equilibrium level, and are moving in that direction ...
Not sure what that sentence fragment means.
Carbon dioxide only has its "greenhouse effect" on the out-bound radiation from Earth's surface
CO2 absorbs IR no matter which direction it is coming from. Yes, it just so happens that most of the radiation from the Sun to the earth arrives at shorter wavelengths which are absorbed by the surface and down-convert to lower energy (long wavelength) IR which is absorbed by the CO2. It is then re-emitted by the CO2 up and up and up until it reaches the edge of the atmosphere. At that point it re-radiates back into space. One of the key aspects of the greenhouse effect is that the level at which it re-radiates gets higher and higher and less and less efficient because of decreased gas density there.