CO2 Facts and Figures

Some CO2 facts:

CO2 is transparent to visible light, opaque to infrared. CO2 contributes about 5 or 6 degrees Celsius to the total Greenhouse Effect which warms the Earth by about 33C. Most of the rest is due to water vapor.

In 1850, there were 2100 billion tonnes of CO2 in Earth's atmosphere.
In 2005, there were 2800 billion tonnes of CO2 in Earth's atmosphere.

In 2005, humans burned

3.9 billion tonnes of oil,
2.9 billion tonnes of coal (oil equivalent units),
2.5 billion tonnes of natural gas (oil equivalent units).

In 2005, the burning of fossil fuels added about 26 billion tonnes of CO2 to the Earth's atmosphere.

By 2030, emissions of CO2 from fossil fuels will have increased to 43 billion tonnes a year.

References:

http://www.bp.com/productlanding.do?categoryId=6842&contentId=7021390
http://www.hydrogen.co.uk/h2_now/journal/articles/2_global_warming.htm
http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/ieo/emissions.html

The Truth About Economics And Carbon Credits

What most people don't realize about the economy is that any need beyond food and shelter is just made up, an invention of the human mind. There's no inherent human need for Pyramids or SUVs or PlayStations or to go to the Moon, but crap like that keeps people occupied, and as long as they are occupied, they will think they are happy, and the economy will appear to be productive.

So humans invent the need for _things_ to keep themselves occupied, and to make themselves think there is meaning to life, and this is what fuels the economy. Now, people who are convinced that CO2 is a major cause of global warming, and that anthropogenic global warming is a bad thing, will gladly occupy some of their time with diminishing CO2 emissions or otherwise abating their effects.

Then, even though logically this anti-CO2 effort might appear to be completely useless and a drain on the economy, in fact it is not, because it fulfills a desire in a large part of the populace to be CO2-free. Thus is would have an overall positive effect on the economy even if it had no effect on global climate, as long as enough people wanted it too.

This imaginary benefit (imaginary even though it may actually be useful) is behind the inception of the huge new industry of Carbon Credits, which is real enough in Europe, though it hasn't reached the US much.