Earth Suffers From CO2 Allergy

Earth Suffers From CO2 Allergy

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About 12 million years ago, Earth wasn’t sensitive to carbon dioxide ups and downs. But like seasonal allergies that develop when one gets older, the planet’s climate has started responding to changing CO2 concentrations relatively recently, according to new findings from paleoclimate researchers.

The prevailing understanding in climate science is that there’s been a persistent connection between CO2 levels and the Earth’s climate: Long ago when the Earth was frozen, CO2 concentrations were low; when it was hotter, the level of CO2 was higher. Research published this week in the journal Nature just might have burst that thought bubble.