Letter to the Editor
Pre-industrial levels are not ‘safe levels’
David Spratt and Ian Dunlop proceed on the basis of ‘Drawing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels back to safe, near pre-industrial levels’.
Unfortunately this level, vaguely denoted as ‘near pre-industrial’ is not safe. At this level, GHGs will still increase in the atmosphere as they have done for some 6-7 thousand years.
Reducing emissions to pre-industrial levels reduces global warming but does not eliminate it. All land ice will still melt but at a slower rate. We still, eventually, destroy our ecological niche.