Greenhouse Gasses Reach Record Highs
The World Meteorological Organization said in a report on Monday that greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere have reached all-time highs, and the rate of acceleration is increasing too. Carbon dioxide, in particular, has increased 2.3 parts per million between 2009 and 2010, after averaging a yearly increase of 2.0 parts per million for the previous decade.
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Levels of methane and nitrous oxide are also increasing, mostly due to human activity, like farming and manufacturing. The "radiative forcing" of these gasses — the amount of impact that they have on energy exchange in the atmosphere (a.k.a. the impact on global warming) — is up 29% over the last 20 years. Last week, the U.S.'s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released its own report saying essentially the same thing: our effort to cut greenhouse gasses is failing.
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Worst of all, these current emissions concentrations are higher now than the worst predictions of seven possible scenarios given a U.N. climate panel 10 years ago. In other words, we've blown it.
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Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is up 39% over pre-industrial times (before 1750), after remaining relatively steady for the previous 10,000 years or so.
