Atmospheric CO2, Measured at Mauna Loa, 1960 – Present
Atmospheric CO2 hit 400 PPM on Thursday, May 9, 2013, as measured at the Koana Loa observatory. This is an increase of 85 ppm, 26.98%, from 1960. This is why Bill McKibben, of 350.org, calls our planet Eaarth. It’s weather, climate, and ecology are different than the one those of us who are over 30 – or over 12 – were born on. National Geographic, summed it up well, here:
“Greenhouse gas highest since the Pliocene, when sea levels were higher and the Earth was warmer.”
The scientists are taking the data – increased atmospheric carbon dioxide – and asking two questions:
- Why is it increasing?
- What are the likely effects?
The journalists and bloggers, like Geoffrey Lean, at the Telegraph, asks, here, “Did the contentious global warming ‘hockey stick’ graph get it right?” He could have asked “Did the scientists – and the environmentalists – get it right? And if so, shouldn’t we stop burning fossil fuels?”