This is maybe the first time you have read this story – from Associated Press, March 5. Yet, is there anything that happened recently that is more important?
US scientists report big jump in heat-trapping CO2
WASHINGTON (AP) — The amount of heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the air jumped dramatically in 2012, making it very unlikely that global warming can be limited to another 2 degrees as many global leaders have hoped, new federal figures show.
Scientists say the rise in CO2 reflects the world’s economy revving up and burning more fossil fuels, especially in China.
Carbon dioxide levels jumped by 2.67 parts per million since 2011 to total just under 395 parts per million, says Pieter Tans, who leads the greenhouse gas measurement team for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
That’s the second highest rise in carbon emissions since record-keeping began in 1959. The measurements are taken from air samples captured away from civilization near a volcano in Mauna Loa, Hawaii.
We are indeed doomed – as doomed as every other species and civilization that has ever existed. That this particular extinction cycle was precipitated by human actions doesn’t change the fact. Our challeng is to respond to this reality with the full force of our intelligence and compassion, rather than pretending it ain’t so.
Does not this measure reading being near a volcano make it a little suspect?? Not discounting that the world is a warmer place, but we have to ask questions on both side of the debate. Was there also increased volatility near this volcano?