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CITY OF SOUTH BEND 1 OFFICE OF THE CLERK
<br /> Earth.The energy of the Sun goes through the ozone layer,a layer of oxygen that keeps our harmful
<br /> ultraviolet rays from getting to our earth. Some of the Sun's energy escapes back into space.
<br /> However, now that we are producing large amounts of carbon and other greenhouse gases with
<br /> practices such as fossil fuel burning and factory farming, the sunlight is being held by greenhouse
<br /> gases in the atmosphere and making the Earth warmer. As well, the greenhouse gases are starting
<br /> to damage our ozone layer and there is a seasonal hole above Antarctica that has been caused by
<br /> these greenhouse gases damaging the ozone layer.
<br /> Tai Verbrugge, 18370 Dunn Road Apt 2104, stated,Thank you, Sarah. I'm a senior at Notre Dame
<br /> studying accounting and sustainability. So, the greenhouse effect is relatively straightforward
<br /> logic. The more carbon dioxide there is in the atmosphere, the warmer our planet gets. As such, it
<br /> is important we track atmospheric carbon levels and make sure that they don't get too high. The
<br /> metric we use to track this is carbon parts per million. So, out of every million molecules in our
<br /> atmosphere, how many of those million are carbon dioxide molecules? For the past 10,000 years
<br /> before the industrial revolution in 1800, so before humans started burning fossil fuels in mass,the
<br /> average was around two hundred and eighty (280) parts per million. By the 1950's, after the
<br /> industrial revolution, that number climbed rapidly to three hundred and twenty (320) parts per
<br /> million. Fast forward to 2015, our annual average is now around four hundred (400) parts per
<br /> million. For a better sense of what these numbers mean, we can look at this video (embedded in
<br /> the presentation and also available in the City Clerk's Office) that has been prepared by the
<br /> National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or,NOAA. They are a federal agency, so their
<br /> data is relatively sound.
<br /> He continued,We will speed up the first(1St)minute or so, and I would like to direct your attention
<br /> to the graph on the right side of the screen. The one (1) on the left is kind of a microcosm, it is
<br /> how carbon parts per million changed throughout a single year. The graph on the right, that red
<br /> and blue line, they show how our carbon parts per million in the atmosphere changes year after
<br /> year. We can see that it is a gradual increase. It doesn't plateau, and it doesn't go down. Year after
<br /> year, carbon is concentrating more and more in our atmosphere. Now, it does fluctuate a little bit
<br /> every year. That is a natural phenomenon. Plants produce more carbon dioxide in the winter and
<br /> less in the summer. That explains the little dip in the red line every year. But, overall, it increases
<br /> year after year. At around one (1) minute it will stop at 2015 and you'll see it peaks around over
<br /> four hundred (400) parts per million. Then, actually, it will zoom out to show how drastic this
<br /> change is. That green line goes back in time to show just how far and how high carbon emissions
<br /> have grown over the past few years. It keeps zooming out to the point of tens of thousands of years
<br /> and you'll see on that right side, that top, that is where we are right now. The point is,hundreds of
<br /> thousands of years before now, carbon has never been as highly concentrated in the atmosphere as
<br /> it is now. There is a natural cycle, yes. However, we are at four hundred (400) parts per million
<br /> which breaks very far out of that natural cycle.
<br /> He went on, The logic from the greenhouse effect, the more carbon in the atmosphere, the hotter
<br /> our planet will be. To see proof of that, we can look at NOAA's list of the hottest years ever
<br /> recorded. So,they started keeping track of average annual globaltemperature in 1880. As you can
<br /> see (referencing a slide in the presentation), the top four (4) hottest years on record have all
<br /> occurred in the past five (5) years. Out of the top ten (10) hottest years ever, since 1880, nine (9)
<br /> out of those ten (10) have occurred since 2000. That is not a surprise. As we just saw, carbon
<br /> emissions keep reaching new heights and because of that, we keep experiencing record-breaking
<br /> levels of heat. So, what is the world doing about this? Have we ignored this problem?
<br /> EXCELLENCE ACCOUNTABILITY j INNOVATION INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT
<br /> 455 County-City Building 227 W.Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 p 574.235.9221 f 574.235.9173 TTD 574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov
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