Climate change is driving virtually every day
Climate change is driving temperatures higher with record temperatures being set virtually every day.
For 800,000 years or more, the temperature of the Earth had been tied to the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. For a thousand years, the temperature has fluctuated in sync with the concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2). From 1000 CE until the mid-1900s CO2 concentrations were about 290 ppm on average. Since the industrial revolution, man has pushed the carbon dioxide concentration to more than 417 ppm and climbing. The temperature is climbing as well. We have already locked in a certain amount of climate change, we must act to make sure it is not more.
Carbon dioxide concentrations are now 417.16 ppm, almost 79% higher than the average for the last thousand years! Temperatures now are screaming up as well, following the CO2 concentrations.
Carbon dioxide that we emit today will stay at least 100 years in the atmosphere. We already have locked in a lot of warming, and related climate changes. We have to control greenhouse gas emissions so the world remains habitable for our children and grandchildren.
“Remains habitable for our children and grandchildren,” is an often-used phrase, but one we must take to heart and take steps to adapt to our already altered world!
Record-breaking heat continued to affect parts of western Europe during the past week, with UK temperatures exceeding 40C (104F) for the first time since records began.
Wildfires have been raging across parts of Europe and northern Africa, with 37,000 people evacuated from their homes in France as a result of the biggest fires in 30 years. Strong winds in northern Morocco have exacerbated wildfires, with firefighters still battling the flames.
Meanwhile, people in China have been struggling to cope with torrential downpours and hot conditions with more than 900 million people feeling the effects of heat above 40C.
Extreme heat prompt has resulted in alerts in 28 states, including Texas and Oklahoma, both of which hit 115.
200 million people in America have experienced temperatures in the 90s or higher in the last three days. Temperature records have been obliterated in the Great Plains, where thermometers recorded 115 degrees for the first time in recorded history.
It is time that we take to the streets, to the media and social media, to our elected officials and demand that our politicians finally take action. We can not just keep watching as the old corporations, conservative billionaires, their lobbyists and their followers corrupt our government and impede action on climate change.
It is our world, the only one we will ever know. We must act now to protect it!