Over the past few years, I've gained a better understanding of the climate and the extent to which it is getting worse by reading a lot, but I've also noticed how difficult it is to get that information, and I think I've come to understand why so few people out there bother to pay attention to the issue, even though it will directly effect them.
To paraphrase Bill McKibben, if in 6 months the rate of unemployment should go up by half a percent, everyone will notice and they will scream about it. On the other hand, similar numbers are not being published for the environment, and without the existence of such numbers most people simply don't notice what's going on.
It's not a new idea, 350.org was started on the bases that it was felt we needed to keep the parts per million of Co2 to 350 to protect the environment. Unfortunately we are now at 392 parts per million.
However, it's an oversimplification. For instance, methane plays a role in this, so that is something else that needs to be tracked to. And then of course, there are tipping points. Melting arctic permafrost is going ot have an effect on changing temperatures.
I know that there are a lot of people here who keep track of these things, so at this point I'd like to ask the community what numbers they think are most important for understanding the trends of climate change. If you could include the best sources to go to, on the internet or possibly otherwise, I would appreciate it. I mean sources that continue to track the same data and update it on a yearly basis in particular.
I would like to have more information, but beyond that, I think that we should have a conversation about what numbers are important, and we should make it our own personal business to inform people about exactly what is going on.