Another Voice: Compared to What?

Another Voice: Compared to what?

In any conversation about the climate crisis and solutions to deal with it, someone often complains “it costs too much”.  But rarely does the discussion consider “compared to what?” To restate the basics, for several centuries our global energy system has been powered by combustion of fossil fuels, which has slowly changed the atmospheric chemistry, making it more opaque to infrared energy, trapping more heat.  As a result, Earth is becoming les…

It's been millions of years since Earth's atmosphere had this much CO2

A new report on atmospheric CO2 levels reveals they are now higher than they have been in millions of years.

Earth’s Atmosphere Contains More CO2 Than It Has in Millions of Years

For the first time in millions of years, Earth’s atmosphere contained an average of 430.2 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide, the result of humans burning fossil fuels. The number, recorded in May at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii by scientists from University of California San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, represents an increase of 3.5 ppm from May 2024. “Anothe…

'The most important news of the day' is not the Trump-Musk feud

The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere peaked above 430 parts per million in 2025—the highest it has been in millions of years—according to data released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego on Thursday. The news was overshadowed by the explosive feud between U.S. President Donald Trump and his erstwhile backer Elon Musk, but clima…

Despite Trump-Musk Feud, CO2 Milestone Is the 'Important News of the Day'

Atmospheric CO2 levels hit a grim milestone, surpassing 430 ppm in 2025. Human activities are driving climate change to unprecedented levels.

CO2 reaches record levels, highest in millions of years