In my last week’s record CO2 alert, I mentioned how three times this year atmospheric CO2 has topped a 4 parts per million increase on last year’s reading.
Carbon dioxide measured at NOAA’s Mauna Loa Atmospheric Baseline Observatory steadily continues to increase.
On April 28 there was a spike to 425.01ppm. Then on May 1, 2023 a reading of 424.45ppm against May 1, 2022 — a yearly change of 4.65ppm (a 1.11 percent increase), pushing the atmosphere further into territory not seen for millions of years.
“The science is irrefutable: humans are altering our climate in ways that our economy and our infrastructure must adapt to,” said NOAA administrator Rick Spinrad, PhD. “We can see the impacts of climate change around us every day. The relentless increase of carbon dioxide measured at Mauna Loa is a stark reminder that we need to take urgent, serious steps to become a more Climate Ready world.”
CO2 pollution is generated by burning fossil fuels for transportation and electrical generation, by cement manufacturing, deforestation, agriculture and many other practices. Along with other greenhouse gases, CO2 traps heat radiating from the planet’s surface that would otherwise escape into space, causing the planet’s atmosphere to warm steadily, which unleashes a cascade of weather impacts, including episodes of extreme heat, drought and wildfire activity, as well as heavier precipitation, flooding and tropical storm activity.
For more on this see the Scripps Institution of Oceanography site:
https://scripps.ucsd.edu/programs/keelingcurve
The industrial revolution set this ball rolling, by our discovery and use of fossil fuels.
I repeat, the only thing possible to prevent reaching Hothouse Earth and our extinction is to cease our fossil-fuel use as soon as possible and leave what is left in the ground.
Bob Hughes
