DOHA INFOGRAPHIC GETS IT WRONG
Doha infographic gets the numbers wrong, underestimates human emissions
Christian Hunt and Mat Hope
There's a startling infographic on the Guardian's datablog today from designers Information is Beautiful. Timed for UN climate talks in Doha, it presents some top-line numbers about human-caused carbon emissions, followed by a whole page listing potential impacts of climate change according to temperature rise.
But one of the key top-line figures is wrong, and several others are confusingly presented - so we're happy to report that the graphic is being revised.
We've focused on trying to understand where the top line numbers come from and haven't gone over the whole graphic in detail. The infographic asks: "How many gigatons of carbon dioxide have we released to date?". It also suggests figures for how much we can "safely release" based on a global carbon budget, and how much carbon dioxide there is "left to release" if remaining fossil fuel reserves were burned.
Let's take each of them in turn.
How many gigatons of carbon dioxide have we released to date?
http://www.carbonbrief.org/blog/2012/12/doha-infographic-underestimates-...
Just confirms to me that all this bunkum (measurements since 1850, estimates etc.) place this in the realm which philosophers call Pseudoscience and is the same a Astrology and Homeopathy. So me a robust theory and validated empirical data.