http://www.democraticunderground.com/1127106590
Human beings have never seen atmospheric CO2 values that are so high as they are today. They significantly predate our species — even preceding our distant relative Australopithecus by about 7 million years. And weather and climate conditions to which we are not adapted — either as individuals or as a civilizations — are well on the way as atmospheric CO2 levels are ramping up into the lower range of those last seen during the Middle Miocene of 14-16 million years ago at 404 parts per million during 2016.
As we reported in November, 2016 is on track to see a record rate of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) increase. A key heat-trapping gas, CO2 is the primary driver of the big temperature increases seen around the world recently. And with new figures out from NOAA for the month of November, we have a clearer picture than ever of just how unprecedented the jump will be.
For the first 11 months of the year, 2016 atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations exceeded those of 2015 by an average of 3.45 parts per million. With no sign evident that the pace of increase has slackened — despite a transition to La Nina during the fall — it now appears that the world is set to experience a 3.3 to 3.5 part per million jump in the atmospheric CO2 measure for this year.
The only thing left that MAY actually start making a difference is to get emotional about what the science is telling us:
http://grist.org/climate-energy/please-scientists-tell-us-how-you-really-feel-about-climate-change/
The question is not whether Americans know climate change is happening. It’s about whether Americans can truly know this so long as the worst of it is only happening to “certain other vulnerable” groups. Until we change the language around who those certain others are, and how they got that way, then most Americans will know climate change only as that thing that happened that one year on television to those poor communities in Brooklyn.
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