CO2 in the atmosphere has just surpassed 415 parts per million for the first time in the history of humanity – TechCrunch

The human race broke another record in its race to ecological collapse. Congratulations to humanity!

For the first time in human history – not recorded in history, but since man exists on Earth – carbon dioxide in the atmosphere exceeded 415 parts per million, to reach 415.26 parts per million, according to sensors from the Mauna Loa Observatory, a research outpost of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency.

The macabre milestone was noted on Twitter by climate journalist Eric Holthaus, based on data recorded and presented by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego.

If the threshold seems innocuous (it should not be so), it is a further indication of the unprecedented territory that humanity is drawing, as it opens new paths to an environmental disaster.

Last week, a report revealed that at least a million species were at risk of extinction because of human activity and carbon emissions as a by-product of economic development.

This is good news that climate change, which is inextricably linked to carbon emissions, will cost the United States alone about $ 500 billion a year by 2090.

The increasing proportion of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is important because of its properties of heat absorption. The earth and the seas of the planet absorb and emit heat that is trapped in carbon dioxide molecules. NOAA compares CO2 to leaving bricks in a chimney, which still emit heat after a fire goes out.

Greenhouse gases help the planet maintain a temperature that can sustain life, but too much can impact the entire ecosystem that supports us. This is happening now. As noted by NOAA, "the increase in greenhouse gases has unbalanced the Earth's energy budget, thereby trapping additional heat and raising the average temperature of the Earth."

The properties of CO2 also mean that it adds to the greenhouse effect, unlike other emissions, thanks to its ability to absorb the wavelengths of thermal energy, which the water vapor can not absorb. . That's why, according to NOAA, the increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is responsible for about two-thirds of the total energy imbalance, which causes the Earth's temperature to rise.