The big question is, given
the inexorable buildup of these gases — a growth that even the most spirited optimists concede can only be slowed, not stopped — what will the specific effects be?
The progressively earlier occurrence
of these high CO2 levels — not seen in somewhere between 800,000 and 15 million years — points to the
inexorable buildup of heat - trapping
gas in the atmosphere as human emissions continue unabated.