What's in a Number? New Carbon Dioxide Level Unseen in Human History - ABC News
Simply put, the more carbon dioxide, the hotter we get.
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The fact that CO2 levels have hit 400 ppm comes as no surprise to scientists who have watched the number steadily climb since around 1780, the start of the Industrial Revolution. Back then, CO2 levels were about 280 ppm. By 1958, when scientist Charles Keeling began measuring CO2 on Mauna Loa (known today as the "Keeling Curve"), the number had risen to 317 ppm.
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Dr. George Luber, Associate Director for Climate and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
"Climate change is already impacting health in the United States. Wildfires and extreme weather events are becoming more frequent, air pollutants and allergens are becoming more concentrated, and the habitats for disease-carrying rodents and insects are shifting..."
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Kevin Trenberth, Distinguished Senior Scientist, Climate Analysis Section, National Center for Atmospheric Research
"...It is a sign of a flourishing industrialized economy and human well-being that is unprecedented. But it has unintended consequences in air quality and climate change. ...There are too many people with too big an environmental footprint effectively stomping on the future generations!"
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Richard Norris, Professor of Paleobiology and Curator, SIO Geological Collections, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
"...Archaeologists note that people started to grow crops as soon as the climate was constant enough to have some assurance we could make a harvest the next year. But, beyond 400 ppm is a shift into heat waves, deep droughts and torrential rains, and a generally less-predictable world of "Snowpocalypse," "Hurricane Sandy" and Texas-sized fires. The worst of it is that we are already committed to several thousand years of unsettled climate thanks to our approximately about 150 years of carbon pollution...Tell your kids not to go into farming, disaster insurance or beachfront real estate since these, and many other jobs, are going to be increasingly a way to lose your shirt."
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