Alden Bryant
Earth Regeneration Society, Inc.
1442A Walnut Street, #57, Berkeley, California 94709 USA
Tel: 510-849-4155 Fax: 510-849-0183
e-mail: csiri@igc.apc.org

Proceedings of the June 1994 meeting of the International Society for the Systems Sciences, held in Asilomar, California, USA.

United States CO/2 Budget
for Atmosphere and Climate Stabilization

Abstract

CO/2 Budget here means an atmospheric carbon dioxide reduction work program for the U.S.: reforestation, soil enhancement to support reforestation and agriculture,alternative energy technology development plus pollution cleanup and transfer out of use of toxic material. This is the basis of an emergency climate stabilization program, the U.S. acting as part of an international survival movement. Without a "human friendly" climate, we will have no crops maturing. A parallel transfer program must, at the same time, be carried out to replace the use of chlorine, and related material, in order to protect the ozone layer (stratospheric ozone, 60,000 to 150,000 foot level) and stop the increase in ultra-violet radiation (UVR-B) striking the earth's surface. This paper presents an outline of a U.S. CO/2 Budget to participate in an international movement to attempt to reduce the atmospheric CO/2 level, from thepresent 365 parts per million plus, back to 280 ppm, the approximate level at 1900. The 1900s, the 20th century, is different from the approximate 120,000 years since the last interglacial period.

This century is the first time that:

1. The soil mineral content, available to forest and agricultural root systems, is down 25% to 40%;
2. Forests are dying primarily from mineral depletion (and coming back to life with mineral enhancement), and the world's forests are half gone compared to 2500 years ago, and burning faster from heat and drought conditions;
3. The CO/2 level has risen above 280 ppm, reached 365 ppm -- and based on the rate of climate change, destruction of the world's biota, and human technology and agriculture, the CO/2 level can only rise another 40 or 50 ppm, as the climate system moves into full glacial conditions;
4. The ice has built up in polar areas (4 to 5 feet per year in parts of Greenland and the Antarctic, for at least the last 40 years) and permanent snows are moving toward the equator [1]; and
5. The destruction level of natural resources and human society has reached a peak not seen over the 10,000 plus years of the present inter*glacial period.

With soil conditions down, and forests dying, burning, insect infested, plus the burning of fossil fuels, we see the rapid CO/2 increase. CO/2above 280 ppm becomes the "engine" driving increased evaporation, "rivers of moisture "moving to the poles, snow and ice increase, freezing air masses coming toward the center and hotter air masses moving up from the equator -- going crazy where they meet in the middle. This is producing the accelerating climate extremes, causing human and ecological loss. These are conditions clear to all. This is the system of climate change in which we are living (and dying). There is no uncertainty about the overall system of change as outlined in the five conditions above. There is, however, a great deal of confusion promulgated and influenced by major corporate groups deciding to resist change based on their short run power and profit positions -- in a partial government vacuum in regard to transition into appropriate products. We have already entered the transition into glacial conditions, and to survive must re-establish an earth-atmosphere balance (in climate, ozone and pollution) -- all organizations and individuals in human society have a role in this endeavor.