Jake Johnson at Common Dreams writes—'Single Most Important Stat on the Planet': Alarm as Atmospheric CO2 Soars to 'Legit Scary' Record High:
In another alarming signal that the international community is failing to take the kind of ambitious action necessary to avert global climate catastrophe, NOAA released new data Tuesday showing that atmospheric carbon dioxide levels—which environmentalist Bill McKibben described as the "single most important stat on the planet"—reached a "record high" in the month of May.
"The measurement is the highest seasonal peak recorded in 61 years of observations on top of Hawaii's largest volcano and the seventh consecutive year of steep global increases in concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2)," NOAA said in a statement on Tuesday. "The 2019 peak value was 3.5 PPM higher than the 411.2 PPM peak in May 2018 and marks the second-highest annual jump on record."
According to NOAA's measurements—which were taken at the Mauna Loa Atmospheric Baseline Observatory in Hawaii—carbon dioxide levels peaked at an average of 414.7 PPM in May.
As The Guardian reported, "Scientists have warned for more than a decade that concentrations of more than 450 PPM risk triggering extreme weather events and temperature rises as high as 2°C, beyond which the effects of global heating are likely to become catastrophic and irreversible."
Reacting to NOAA's new measurements, McKibben tweeted, "This is legit scary." [...]
Climate scientist Peter Gleick noted that the "last time humans experienced levels this high was... never. Human[s] didn't exist." [...]
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“When an honest man speaks, he says only what he believes to be true; and for the liar, it is correspondingly indispensable that he considers his statements to be false. For the bullshitter, however, all these bets are off: he is neither on the side of the true nor on the side of the false. His eye is not on the facts at all, as the eyes of the honest man and of the liar are, except insofar as they may be pertinent to his interest in getting away with what he says. He does not care whether the things he says describe reality correctly. He just picks them out, or makes them up, to suit his purpose.” ~~Harry G. Frankfurt, On Bullshit (2005)
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On this date at Daily Kos in 2010—Obama vows justice in address from the Gulf:
From the devastated shoreline of Grand Isle, Louisiana, armed with stories from local residents, President Obama used his weekly address this morning to bring passion and promises, not just to the Gulf region, but to the nation in some of his most powerful remarks to date about the BP disaster.
Every story he tells is an American story: of hard work and love of the sea and land, ravaged and despoiled by the carelessness of Big Business.
The president seems to be finding the path to his inner populist. And the results are impressive.
On today’s Kagro in the Morning show: Greg Dworkin offers an i-word update, and explains yet another "existential crisis," this one driving the culture wars. Trump's in bad shape, according to the polls (and his formal wear). TX voter suppression scam explodes. Committee probes plod along.