Lest Spittle-flecked Ire become entirely cantankerous, I'd like to point out one of the best articles I've ever read in the NYT Science section: A Scientist, His Work and a Climate Reckoning.
Lest Spittle-flecked Ire lose it edge, I'd like to point out my only complaint is that when the article states
Later chemical tests, by Dr. Keeling and others, proved that the increase was due to the combustion of fossil fuels.
it does not mention which chemical tests. CO2 produced by burning fossil fuels will have much less Carbon-14 as it comes from sources much older than 6000 years, so the atmospheric ratio of Carbon-14 to Carbon-12 will steadily decrease while [CO2] increases.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suess_effect
However, one must account for a countervailing production of Carbon-14 during the nuclear test era. And there is some neat stuff about relative Carbon-13 depletion involving evolving chemical processes in plants that I just learned about a few minutes ago.
It does help me see why Creationists and the "global warming is a hoax" crowd are natural allies.
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