Maybe someone should do something?
The level of the most important heat-trapping gas in the atmosphere, carbon dioxide, has passed a long-feared milestone, scientists reported on Friday, reaching a concentration not seen on the earth for millions of years.
Scientific monitors reported that the gas had reached an average daily level that surpassed 400 parts per million — just an odometer moment in one sense, but also a sobering reminder that decades of efforts to bring human-produced emissions under control are faltering.
The best available evidence suggests the amount of the gas in the air has not been this high for at least three million years, before humans evolved, and scientists believe the rise portends large changes in the climate and the level of the sea.
“It symbolizes that so far we have failed miserably in tackling this problem,” said Pieter P. Tans, who runs the monitoring program at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that reported the new reading.
H/t Colleen Kirby.
This was reported on CBS Evening News Friday, with the carefully included quote that this kind of atmosphere did happen on Earth previously 200-400 million years ago. There was no mention for the history challenged that it was prior to the existence of humans or proto-humans. No direct mention of how quickly this change has occurred compared to previous higher CO2 level increases.
So, it seemed like a news report, with two scientists mentioning possible effects, but cautious enough to make it impossible for the rightwads to declare CBS Big Green Meanies or such.