The gas that will kill us all
More bad news from the global warming front . It seems that there is never any good news to report from this front. Scientists report that this week, for the first time, their sensors have measured a daily average of more than 400 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is the primary fuel that is heating up the planet. Now, if you are like me, that figure by itself may mean nothing to you. But prior to the industrial revolution, the proportion of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere hovered around 280 parts per million. As late as 1958, when scientists began measuring average carbon dioxide levels at an observatory on Mauna Loa in Hawaii, the figure was around 320 ppm. This means that in the last 50 years we have added more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere than in all the 100 years prior. Scientists say that the last time carbon dioxide levels were this high was about 4 million years ago while Australopithecus still walked the Earth. We a...