The "carbon" Bathtub

The "Carbon" Bathtub.  It’s simple, really:
. . . As long as we pour CO2; into the atmosphere,
. . . faster than nature drains it out,
. . . the planet warms.
And that extra carbon takes a long time to drain out of the tub.

Plants, oceans, and rocks all drain carbon from the atmosphere,
. . . but those drains are slow.
. . . It’s going to take them hundreds of years to remove most of the CO2;
. . . that humans are pouring into the tub and
. . . hundreds of thousands of years to remove it all.
Stopping the rise of CO2; will thus require huge cuts in emissions from
. . . . . . cars,
. . . . . . power plants, and
. . . . . . factories, until inflow no longer exceeds outflow.

MIT university students, didn’t understand that,
. . . at least not when the problem was described in the usual climate jargon.
Most thought that simply stopping emissions from rising,
. . . would stop the rise of CO2; in the atmosphere,
. . . as if a tap running steadily but rapidly would not eventually overflow the tub.
If MIT graduate students don’t get it,
. . . most politicians and voters probably don’t either.
That means they think it’s easier to stabilize greenhouse gases and
. . . stop warming than it is.

2013-11-05 Source:  National Geographic