Volcanoes and CO2 Emissions
This incredibly beautiful pyroclastic cloud from last year’s eruption of Mount Etna in Sicily calls to mind an element from climate change deniers’ disinformation campaigns, namely that volcanoes release more CO2 into the atmosphere than human activities, and thus mitigation strategies are useless.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the world’s volcanoes, both on land and undersea, generate about 200 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) annually, while our automotive and industrial activities cause some 24 billion tons of CO2 emissions every year worldwide. Human activity therefore is a little over 100 times more potent than volcanoes.
Craig,
This is the sort of disingenuous comment that brings climate change into disrepute.
Why do you feel the need to resort to this sort of dishonest advocacy?
You know perfectly well Volcanic activity is not a constant regular occurrence and therefore can’t be measured and compared in any particular year.
The vast majority of volcanic activity is on the ocean sea bed and so unmeasured and most unrecorded.
These sort of silly claims are not helpful and detract from your scientific creditably.
( Although, I like the picture….)