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"We do not know a planet like this."
It is the reaction of meteorologist Eric Holthaus to the news that carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have reached unparalleled heights throughout human existence – not in history.
According to data from the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii, the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere would be greater than 415 parts per million (ppm), which is far greater than what it was over the past 800,000 years since the evolution of homo sapiens.
??? THE FIRST DAY OF HUMANITY WITH # CO2 in the air above 415 ppm at Mauna Loa: 415.26 ppm on May 11, 2019 #Scripps @keeling_curve data and graphics: https://t.co/Xr9bFdDLS2 ? CO2 records followed by https://t.co/DpFGQoYEwb at https://t.co/PTTkLiPGm2 Happy #Mothers' Day ? pic.twitter.com/8ZSR7jja8w
– Earth CO2 (@ CO2_earth) May 12, 2019
Holthaus spotted the new record on Sunday when he was tweeted by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, which measures daily CO2 levels at Mauna Loa, in collaboration with scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Measurements have been ongoing since the launch of the program in 1958 by the late Charles David Keeling, to whom the Keeling Curve, chart representing the increase in CO2 concentration in the atmosphere, has been named.
"This is the first time in human history that our planet's atmosphere emits more than 415 ppm of CO2," Holthaus said in a widely shared tweet.
"Not just in recorded history, not just since the invention of agriculture 10,000 years ago. Since modern humans already existed millions of years ago, "Holthaus said.
During the Pliocene epoch, about three million years ago, when global temperatures were estimated to be 2 to 3 degrees Celsius higher than those of today, CO2 levels would have been reaches between 310 and 400 ppm.
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At that time, the Arctic was covered with trees, not ice, and summer temperatures in the Far North are thought to have reached about 15 ° C (60 ° F). It was thought that the sea level during the Pliocene was 25 meters higher than today, or even more.
Devastating effects
High levels of CO2 in the atmosphere – caused by the burning of fossil fuels and the felling of forests by humans – prevent the Earth's natural cooling cycle from functioning, trapping heat near the surface and causing an increase in temperature. global temperature with devastating effects.
The release of CO2 and other greenhouse gases has already caused global temperatures to rise by 1 ° C and we are probably stuck for a further rise if governments around the world do not take any more immediate action.
According to 70 peer-reviewed climate studies, in a world where the temperature is 2 degrees higher, there will be 25% more hot days and additional heat waves, leading to major health risks and forest fires.
Worldwide, 37% of the population will be exposed to at least one major heat wave every five years, and the average duration of droughts will increase by four months, exposing some 388 million people to water scarcity. 5 million to severe droughts.
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Floods and extreme weather events such as cyclones and typhoons will increase, forest fires become more frequent and crop yields will drop. Animal life will be devastated, with about a million species threatened with extinction. Mosquitoes will flourish, however, which means that 27% of the world will be exposed to malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases.
All this at 2 degrees, a target that is becoming more and more optimistic. At a temperature rise of 3 or 4 degrees, we enter a phase of "greenhouse land" that could make many parts of the planet uninhabitable.
All this has been predicted for decades. We also know what needs to be done to stop it: drastic reduction of carbon emissions, reforestation and creation of carbon sinks, new technologies for carbon capture and other innovations, or, to use the Group's words. Intergovernmental experts on climate change, "rapid, profound and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society. "
This can be done, and many are organizing to try to force their governments to act, but we are running out of time to avoid a world that we literally do not manage.
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