According to the World Meteorological Organization, atmospheric CO2 levels have reached the highest level in 800,000 years — a gain that took just a few decades. The agency warns that urgent action is needed to reverse this worrying trend — and notes that we have the technology, but perhaps not the political will.
This announcement is especially alarming, given that the Trump administration has adopted aggressively anti-environmental policies, including placing climate change deniers in key policymaking positions.
The WMO report states that atmospheric CO2 levels have reached 403.3 parts per million, an increase from 2015. The agency claims that some of this rise can be explained by a particularly strong El Niño year, but human activity was also a contributing factor. The spike represents a 145 percent increase over pre-Industrial levels, reflecting a rapid change over a relatively short period of time.
Methane levels have also jumped radically, and researchers aren’t quite sure why. Some methane is natural in origin, while other amounts come from human activities, including agriculture. One reason why methane levels are increasing may be a rise in global temperatures, which leads to more methane release.
Nitrous oxide is also on the rise, with levels reaching about 122 percent of those seen prior to 1750. This gas destroys ozone, a key part of the atmosphere that makes the planet habitable.
One option for addressing the increase of greenhouses gases is to set — and meet — strict emissions targets worldwide, a major goal of the Paris Agreement. But these targets are only effective when all nations commit to honoring them, and they require creative problem solving for polluting industries that need to develop cleaner, more efficient methods of doing business.
Mitigation efforts may also be key, along with research like this, which generates a tremendous amount of useful data to help track emissions trends.
Additionally, nations should seriously consider strategies for climate change resilience. Even if we sharply reverse emissions and meet other goals, sea levels will likely continue to rise, and severe weather could become the norm. Planning for such events must include conversations about building robust and flexible infrastructure, relocating communities when necessary and developing a sustainable legacy for the next generation.
While the Obama administration promoted action in all of these areas, unfortunately, the Trump administration doesn’t view the climate as a priority. And this should worry US residents — especially those living in hurricane-prone areas and regions subject to wildfires.
This issue remains one of global importance, as the US is responsible for 29 percent of greenhouse gases emitted worldwide in the last 150 years. The US has contributed heavily to the Earth’s burden, and now it must be part of the solution.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
Last week, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy