NOAA map shows hottest May on record
Greenhouse Gas Levels In Atmosphere Surged To New High In 2013, World Meteorological Organization Reports. The World Meteorological Organization said "carbon dioxide concentrations grew at the fasted rate since reliable global records began."
"We know without any doubt that our climate is changing and our weather is becoming more extreme due to human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels," said WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud in a statement accompanying the WMO's annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin.
"Past, present and future CO2 emissions will have a cumulative impact on both global warming and ocean acidification. The laws of physics are non-negotiable," Jarraud said. "We are running out of time."
The volume of carbon dioxide, or CO2, the primary greenhouse gas emitted by human activities, was 396.0 parts per million (ppm) in 2013, 2.9 ppm higher than in 2012, the largest year-to-year increase since 1984, when reliable global records began.
The WMO also reports that methane levels grew has grown at about the same rate for the last five years, reaching 1824 parts per billion.
We need to wake up and realize that we are not doing anywhere near enough "to keep global warming with 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit), which is the goal the scientists and the U.N. set as the maximum amount of global warming our planet can endure without moving into a range that will great vast additional dangers and disruptions to our current environmental conditions.
We still may have a chance to avoid disastrous consequences. How dumbfounding that we are not reacting with sufficient alacrity and alarm to change out course. Does this not remind you of a situation where a fire breaks out in a high rise, the fire department shows up and pulls the alarm but no one evacuates, but continues their daily routines as if nothing of import was happening.
WTH folks? What are we thinking as a planet full of people who show some glimmers of potential intelligence? We need to demand our political leaders across our globe take this seriously and take the needed actions to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions or get new leaders who are competent and responsible.