Effects of increased CO2 in Earth's Past

Tim Patterson is a paleoclimatologist and Professor of Geology at Carleton University in Canada. He appeared before the Commons Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development in 2005 and testified: "There is no meaningful correlation between CO2 levels and Earth's temperature over this [geologic] time frame. In fact, when CO2 levels were over ten times higher than they are now, about 450 million years ago, the planet was in the depths of the absolute coldest period in the last half billion years. On the basis of this evidence, how could anyone still believe that the recent relatively small increase in CO2 levels would be the major cause of the past century's modest warming?"

蒂姆·帕特森是加拿大卡尔顿大学的地质学教授，也是古气候学家。他于2005年在环境与可持续发展委员会面前作证，称：“在这一地质时间尺度上，二氧化碳水平与地球温度之间没有有意义的相关性。事实上，大约4.5亿年前，二氧化碳水平是现在的十倍以上，此时地球正处于过去半亿年中最寒冷的时期。基于这一证据，人们如何还能相信近期相对较小的二氧化碳增加会是过去世纪温和升温的主要原因？”