[MCN] Lifestyle of [ financially comfortable ] spender -> Carbon-Dioxide Level in Atmosphere Hits Historical High

[Lance Olsen]

The Wall Street Journal  May 5, 2022
Carbon-Dioxide Level in Atmosphere Hits Historical High

Global emissions from burning of coal, oil, natural gas are ‘on the wrong track,’ NOAA scientist says 

By Nidhi Subbaraman

https://www.wsj.com/articles/carbon-dioxide-level-in-atmosphere-hits-historical-high-11651777260 <https://www.wsj.com/articles/carbon-dioxide-level-in-atmosphere-hits-historical-high-11651777260>

Excerpts 

The level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere hit a record high in April, according to measurements of the heat-trapping gas at an observatory high on Hawaii's Mauna Loa volcano. The level during the month averaged 420 parts per million, scientists said Thursday.

The uptick is part of a continuing decades-long rise in atmospheric carbon-dioxide levels driven by the burning of coal and other fossil fuels , according to the chemical fingerprinting of atmospheric carbon atoms and various other scientific analyses conducted in recent years.

The rising levels of carbon dioxide—and the rising global temperatures to which they are linked—indicate that efforts to rein in carbon emissions are falling short. "Folks, we're still full speed on the wrong track," Dr. Tans said.

Emissions from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas for energy sent 36.3 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in 2021, according to the International Energy Agency.

Scientists have logged carbon-dioxide readings every hour on Mauna Loa since 1958, when the American atmospheric scientist Charles Keeling began tracking the gas. Levels registered at 313 parts per million in March 1958

"Every single year in these 64 years, the carbon dioxide went up from one year to the next," Dr. Tans said.

"In 2013 or so we crossed the 400 threshold, and now we're crossing 420," said Ralph Keeling, a Scripps Institution of Oceanography geochemist and the son of Charles. "You can see that we're going to rocket on upward past 430, past 440. It's really hard to imagine this thing coming into check before we get into the high 400s."



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" 'Hopelessness' … is often derived from unfulfillable, rather than from merely unfulfilled, desires and wishes focused on impossible aims.  It diminishes with the development of capability to change aim. Its counterpart is not just 'hope' but enthusiasm and zest."

Barbara Betz, M.D.  
International Journal of Psychiatry.  May, 1968

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" ‘Triage’ is a dirty word in some conservation circles, but like many dirty words, it describes something common. Whether they admit it or not, conservationists have long had to make decisions about what to save.

"As more and more admit it, open discussion about how the decisions are best made — by concentrating on particular species, or particular places, or absolute costs, or any other criterion — becomes possible. Whichever criteria come into play, one thing remains constant. The decisions have to be made quickly."

Emma Marris, "What To Let Go.” NATURE November 8, 2007

https://www.nature.com/articles/450152a.pdf

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