Milestone on CO2

Scientific instruments measured a milestone in the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere when it topped 400 parts per million (ppm) on May 10, at 3 pm. The long feared milestone was measured atop mount Mauna Loa, Hawaii. Atmospheric CO2 measurements have been taken there since 1958.

The best available evidence suggests the amount of CO2 in the air has not been this high for at least 3 million years, well before humans evolved.

The lab is on a volcano and is considered ground zero for monitoring world-wide trends in CO2. Devices there sample clean air that has been blown across the Pacific Ocean. The data collected there has produced a record of rising CO2 levels over the last half century.

Ralph Keeling runs another CO2 monitoring lab at the Scripps Institute in San Diego. He said passing the milestone means we are losing the possibility of keeping climate change below tolerable thresholds.

Scientists study air bubbles in ice cores dating back 800,000 years. During that time CO2 osillated in a narrow band between 180 ppm and 280 ppm in warm periods.

For all of human civilization CO2 levels were at the 280 level- about 8,000 years. With the introduction of the use of fossil fuels the level of heat trapping gases rose 41% since the industrial revolution, which began in the early 1800’s with the burning of coal.

The Keeling laboratory on Mauna Loa was named after Charles Keeling who began measuring CO2 levels there in 1958. At that time CO2 levels were at 315 ppm. His analysis produced a curve that illustrates a long-term increase in CO2 levels.

China and the U.S. are the on ly two countries which refused to adopt a binding agreement on national targets for reducing CO2 levels. This game of chicken is driven by the knowledge that lowering CO2 emissions will require severe economic disruption.

As the earth approaches the tipping point on CO2 the population of the earth continues to rise. With the population demand for cheap energy, which means coal, rises with it.

The data collected at the Keeling lab is considered irrefutable evidence of rising heat trapping gases. Deniers of the human causes of climate change, the most vocal are the spokesmen for corporations supplying fossil fuels, are not deterred by the Keeling data.

The difference between the earth’s current CO2 driven warming trend and the last one 3 million years ago, is that there are now 10 million people in harms way.