It can be difficult to determine the right course of action when dealing with climate change, especially when the people we choose to represent us are confused about the fundamental elements of the issue. For people like Alaskan representative, Republican Lisa Murkowski, chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, understanding the basic facts can be difficult. She was quoted back in November making some foolish comments while trying to avoid confirming the existence of climate change, and human beings role in that change. Mrs. Murkowski was interviewed by NPR in reference to climate change and while she did agree that the climate was changing (growing warmer), she brought up a volcano in Iceland as the major factor causing a change in our global climate. “The emissions that are being put in the air by that volcano are a thousand years’ worth of emissions that would come from all of the vehicles, all of the manufacturing in Europe,” says Murkowski. Princeton professor Michael Oppenheimer, a leading expert on climate change says: “It’s simply untrue. I don’t know where she gets that number from.” Oppenheimer goes on to say that the opposite of what Mrs. Murkowski is saying is actually true. The annual emissions from Europe are roughly 10 times larger than all volcanic emissions put together.
So I have decided to take a look at just how the anthropomorphic emissions match up against the natural emissions from volcanic activity. Humans are responsible for an estimated 35 gigatons of CO2 emissions in 2010 according to the USGS. Whereas, “the published estimates of the global CO2 emission rate for all degassing subaerial (on land) and submarine volcanoes lie in a range from 0.13 gigaton to 0.44 gigaton per year” (USGS).
As you can tell by comparing these numbers the emissions from human sources far outweigh those emitted by volcanic activity.
Source: http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2014/11/sen-murkowskis-climate-comments-are-completely-wrong
http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2015/01/republican-climate-denial-caucus
http://www.npr.org/2014/11/06/361896179/republican-sweep-highlights-climate-change-politics-in-alaska