-3can be aeen that fossll fuels are estlnated to contrlbute
flve b1l11oa
tons of catbon per yea! to the atnosphere aDd that about half
of thls
1s reabsorbed by the oceans or by the biosphere. The concluslon
that
fossll fuel coabustlon represents the sole source of lncreaental carbon
dloxlde involves assr:olng not only that the contrlbutions fron the
b1o_
sphere and flou che oceans are not changlng but also that these
tlro
soulces are coDtlnulng to absorb exactly the aame aEount as they
are
enlttlnS. The World Meteorologlcal Organizatlon recognlzed
the
Deed
to valldate these assulrptlons, paltlcuiarly 1n vlew of the fact that
the rate of earbon dloxlde Lncrlase
less than ZZ ot tii- rale at lrh1ch the atnosphere 1s exchanglng
".pr.".rrt"
carbon dloxlde lrlth the
biosphere and the oceans.
The
blologlsts
have been
clalnlng that deforestatlon
and
assoclated
blogenlc effects on the contln.it" ,.p.es"ot an lEportant
lnput of carbou dloxlde to the atmosphere. Vuglaph s,,"'r,"112Es glE
results f!o!_ recent papers by a nr.rnblr of biologlsts6on
the conEribu_
-;i;;i;.
rlon of rhe bio.phere to rhe grorrrh of Co2 1n rie atuospher"
to the contrlburlon of fossll fuel coubusilon,
esttoat;;l;;-thls rarlo are presented ln the flrst columr. rnthetr
Apr1l
igii,-ai"r"2
estlnated that the ratlo of the lrelght of carbon fron netot,nooa
trrrl.Jto the erelght of carboo frou fosEil fuel burned ln thls
nay have approaehed 1.0. rrre fouonrng
"""t"ry-i""-io;ii,
*:l_1.-1:,"::,0:-1
:"!.the
oor:.nJ cralued that
increase 1n carbon dioxlde due to th! expani
sion of folestly and agricuJ.ture nas at least half that due to il""
fo1r. In Augusr of 1977, rhe Natlonal Acadeey
Scfeic.s
f111lonUust
lssued
a report+ whlch attrlbuted the Greenhouse Effect toof
foss11
coEbustlon and whlch recelved a considerable aoount of sensetlonal fuel
publlclty. Thls has produced a rash of papers by rhe blol;;i;;;lo
support thelr posltlon. In January of this year, IloodweliS-""J-.-lr:mber of other authors froo acadealc and oceanographic ccnters
llshed a paper claiulng that the terrestrlal blomass appears to !ub_
be anet source of carbon dloxlde for the atnosphere whlch is po""itfygreater then that due to fossil fuel con-bustlon. the foliowln!1eek,
Stulver6 publlshed resulrs r.".a-"po"-if57ii2-i"aro" whlch reported
thet the net release of carbon dloxlde froa the blosphere 1n ihe
ceutury prl0r to 1950 was tvice as great as that f!o; foss1l fuel
coo_
bustlon. Even Lf 1t ls assumed thai the blospherLc release
1950, the contllbutlon of the blosphere up to the present tfr"
"aopp.J-L
,o,ria
stlll be 1.2 thar fron fossll fue1. t"tre iast
four' arrlcles'ii"i-ipublished 1n Sclence. ra the present DoDrh,
1,fl.-:9.:.3.yere.atl
w1J-son, pubushed an artlcle 1n Nature whlch sugportE the
elaln ihat
defolestatlon ha6 produced at least half as uuch carbon dloxlde
in
the atDosphere as can be attllbuted to foss1l fuel.
Non, you ldlI reDeEbe! that eerller 1n this talk lt rras polnted
out that 1f the lncrease ln catbon dl0xlde in the at'osphere
ls arr" tofossil fuel conbustlon, about 502 of the CO2 belng released remalns
ln
the atoosphere and the rest 1s absorbed 1n llther the oceans or the co'tlnents. If thete have been substaDtlal releases of carbon dloxlde ln
addltion to that whlch can be attllbuted to foss11 fuels,
the natural