Atmospheric CO2 soars to record highs: Graph reveals shocking rise

The last time humans saw something like this was — never. Humans didn’t exist. The world should be concerned about this.

An alarming rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels has been revealed, showing the world is edging closer to triggering “catastrophic and irreversible” global warming.

American scientific agency National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released new results on Tuesday that show CO2 levels have continued to rapidly rise this year.

The average for May peaked at 414.7 parts per million (ppm) at NOAA’s Mauna Loa Atmospheric Baseline Observatory.

The 2019 peak value was 3.5ppm higher than the 411.2ppm peak in May 2018 and marks the second-highest annual jump on record, according to NOAA.

Steam rises off an industrial plant.

Scientists have warned for years that concentrations of more than 450ppm risk triggering extreme weather events and temperature rises of 2C.

Environmentalist Bill McKiben reacted to the report by calling it “legit scary”.

“(The) single most important stat on the planet: CO2 rose 3.5 parts per million last year,” he said. (The) second highest annual rise on record.”

Climate scientist Peter Gleick also expressed alarm at the rising CO2 levels in a recent tweet.

“Atmospheric CO2 levels have now reached 415ppm. The last time humans experienced levels this high was … never. Human didn’t exist.”

He posted a graph showing the dramatic rise in CO2 levels since the emergence of humans on the planet.

The impact we’ve made is unmissable.

Climate scientist Peter Gleick posted this graph showing the disturbing rise in CO2 levels, now at 415 parts per million in the atmosphere. Picture: Peter Gleick/Twitter

Monthly CO2 values at Mauna Loa first breached the 400ppm threshold in 2014.

“It’s critically important to have these accurate, long-term measurements of CO2 in order to understand how quickly fossil fuel pollution is changing our climate,” Pieter Tans, senior scientist with NOAA’s Global Monitoring Division, said.

“These are measurements of the real atmosphere.

“They do not depend on any models, but they help us verify climate model projections which, if anything, have underestimated the rapid pace of climate change being observed.”

The rise of CO2 in the atmosphere was accelerating, NOAA said.

Atmospheric CO2 levels recorded at the Mauna Loa Observatory. Picture: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

The report came as India experienced a devastating heatwave, which has been partly blamed on climate change.

Temperatures passed 50 degrees Celsius in northern India this week as an unrelenting heatwave triggered warnings of water shortages and heat stroke.

A major heatwave hits India. Picture: Windy TV

The thermometer hit 50.6 degrees Celsius in the Rajasthan desert city of Churu, the weather department said.

All of Rajasthan suffered in severe heat, with several cities hitting maximum temperatures above 47 Celsius.

The heatwave is part of a trend of rising temperatures in India, the Independent reported.

Last year was the sixth warmest since national record-keeping started in 1901.

Environmental researcher Hem Dholakia said it was evidence of a clear change.

“Science as well as our subjective experiences has made it unequivocally clear that longer, hotter and deadlier summers are poised to become the norm due to climate change,” he wrote last month.

Students have staged strikes around the world in recent weeks to demand action on climate change.

Schoolchildren hold a placard reading ‘CHANGE’ during the Youth Climate Strike on May 24 outside United Nations headquarters in New York City. Picture: Johannes Eisele/AFP

The strikes were inspired by 16-year-old Greta Thunberg who has become a global figurehead since protesting outside Sweden’s parliament in 2018.

The climate change activist, who has 668,000 followers on Twitter, recently wrote of her concern the emissions rate was still rising.

“People always tell me and the other millions of school strikers that we should be proud of ourselves for what we have accomplished,” Greta wrote.

“But the only thing that we need to look at is the emission curve. And I’m sorry, but it’s still rising. That curve is the only thing we should look at.

“Every time we make a decision we should ask ourselves; how will this decision affect that curve?” Greta added. “We should no longer measure our wealth and success in the graph that shows economic growth but in the curve that shows the emissions of greenhouse gases.

“We should no longer only ask: ‘Have we got enough money to go through with this?’ but also: ‘Have we got enough of the carbon budget to spare to go through with this?’ That should and must become the centre of our new currency.”

Britain's Prince Charles raised the issue of climate change with US President Donald Trump. Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Pool via AP

Climate change was also discussed during US President Donald Trump’s meeting with Prince Charles.

The Prince of Wales spent 75 minutes longer than scheduled trying to convince Mr Trump of the dangers of climate change.

Mr Trump told ITV’s Good Morning Britain he had been due to meet Prince Charles for 15 minutes during his visit but the talk went on for 90 minutes.

The Prince did “most of the talking” during that discussion, the Guardian reported.

Mr Trump insisted the US was “clean” and blamed other nations for the crisis.

“I did say, ‘Well, the United States right now has among the cleanest climates there are based on all statistics’. And it’s even getting better because I agree with that we want the best water, the cleanest water. It’s crystal clean, has to be crystal clean clear,” Mr Trump explained.

Asked if he accepted the science on climate change, the President responded by saying: “I believe there’s a change in weather, and I think it changes both ways.

“Don’t forget, it used to be called global warming, that wasn’t working, then it was called climate change. Now it’s actually called extreme weather because with extreme weather you can’t miss.”