About | Contact | Mongabay on Facebook | Mongabay on Twitter | Free newsletter

CO2 levels rise to a new record

mongabay.com
February 17, 2009

Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations climbed 2.28 parts-per-million (ppm) in 2008 to the highest level in at least 650,000 years — and possibly 20 million years — reports NOAA.

The average annual growth rate of CO2 concentrations this decade is now 2.1 ppm a year or 40 percent higher than that of the 1990s. CO2 emissions from the burning of fossil fuels are increasing at four times the rate of the previous decade.

The news comes shortly after a leading member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that the impacts of climate change are likely to be far worse than projected in the most recent assessment by the Nobel Prize-winning group of scientists.

Some scientists, including James Hansen of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, warn that CO2 levels must be kept below 350 ppm to avoid serious impacts from climate change. CO2 concentrations are presently around 386 ppm.

CITATION:
mongabay.com (February 17, 2009).

CO2 levels rise to a new record.

http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0217-co2.html

Tags:
carbon dioxide carbon emissions greenhouse gases greenhouse gas emissions climate change pollution

print

Environmental news index | RSS | News Feed | Twitter | Home

Advertisements:

T-shirts, shopping bags, calendars, and more.

DON'T LIKE ADS? Become a mongabay supporter

WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

RECENT FEATURES

		Looking for a yeti? Use leeches
		Cinderella animals
		Uncontacted tribes spotted in Colombia
		17 celebrated scientists on how to make a better world

Photos

Brazil	China	Colombia
Costa Rica	Deforestation	Gabon
India	Indonesia	Kenya
Madagascar	Peru	Rainforest

ABOUT
Mongabay.com seeks to raise interest in and appreciation of wild lands and wildlife, while examining the impact of emerging trends in climate, technology, economics, and finance on conservation and development (more)

Help support mongabay.com when you buy from Amazon.com

BOOKS BY MONGABAY AUTHORS

Conservation in an age of mass extinction

FREE WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

HIGH RESOLUTION PHOTOS / PRINTS

Copyright mongabay 2010

Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions generated from mongabay.com operations (server, data transfer, travel) are mitigated through an association with Anthrotect,
an organization working with Afro-indigenous and Embera communities to protect forests in Colombia's Darien region.
Anthrotect is protecting the habitat of mongabay's mascot: the scale-crested pygmy tyrant.