Even when carbon emissions are lowered, want the existing carbon emissions still harm the atmosphere?

Question

Even when carbon emissions are lowered, want the existing carbon emissions still harm the atmosphere?

Answer 1

First of all, it isn't the atmosphere that's being "harmed". The atmosphere just chugs along hot or cold. What is being harmed is life and, yes, there are good indications that levels of greenhouse gas emission have already set off very threatening changes, ones that can now operate to continue global warming even if we reduce emissions. For example, loss of polar ice cover means that more of the sun's heat is absorbed rather than reflected.

This said, reducing emissions may give us more time before disaster to find ways to plan for and deal with the effects.

Answer 2

Ditto what Norman said with the addition that we need to do two things and the faster we do them the better.

1.  Dramatically reduce the amount of CO2 that we are putting into the atmosphere.

2.  Figure out ways to remove CO2 from the atmosphere.  Trees, plants, and algae all remove CO2 naturally.  Is there anything we can do to remove more existing CO2?