2008/10/13 by William H. Calvin, Calvin, William H.
Environmental Science · Social Sciences · #Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics (physics.ao-ph) #Climate Change Communication and Perception #Climate Change and Health Impacts #Ecosystem dynamics and resilience #FOS: Physical sciences
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.0810.2275
openalex publication_date 2008/10/13 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We need enough new carbon sinks to 1) cancel out any continuing use of fossil fuels, 2) overcome the delayed effect of earlier excesses, and then 3) lower atmospheric CO2 concentrations to the old maximum value of 280 ppm. We need to sink about 25 billion tonnes of carbon each year, half to counter current emissions and commitments, and half for drawing down the CO2 concentrations within a few decades. A very large carbon sink could be created by sinking sewage in offshore dead zones. Half of all people live close enough to a coast to personally contribute, making the sink size close to half the annual food production.