10 September

Some numbers on climate change. Between 1751 and 1987 (236 years), humans released about 737 billion tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere. Between 1987 and 2014 (27 years), humans released about 742 billion tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere. That's the equivalent of burning 1.5 billion acres of forest *per year* for those 263 years. However that's just an average over those 263 years. Right now we're releasing about 40 billion tonnes per year, the equivalent of burning 10 billion acres of forest, every year. Makes me think of the Reign of Fire. A perfect description of the past 270-odd years. A huge amount of that burning has been 'internal' (inside engines and furnaces), old forests in the form of oil and coal, so not as visible to us. But the Earth may end up looking a lot like that film.