Friday, May 31, 2013

A Disturbing Milestone: 400 ppm CO2

During May 2013, for the first time, NOAA's Mauna Loa observatory recorded an average daily CO2 concentration above 400 parts per million. This is indeed a sobering milestone.
 

 The Keeling Curve:



Scientists almost unanimously agree that human activity is to blame for climate change  

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/science/130516/unanimity-among-scientists-over-cause-climate-change-study



Bill McKibben, co-founder of 350.org:
"We're in new territory for human beings--it's been millions of years since there's been this much carbon in the atmosphere. The only question now is whether the relentless rise in carbon can be matched by a relentless rise in the activism necessary to stop it."

Dr. James Hansen, former NASA Climatologist:
"If humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted, paleoclimate evidence and ongoing climate change suggest that CO2 will need to be reduced ... to at most 350 ppm." 


"We've got work to do, and there's not a moment to lose."
From 400.350.org