Worldwide, emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) from human industrial activities are on the rise. Carbon dioxide, when present in the Earth’s atmosphere, decreases the rate at which energy from the sun escapes back into space after striking the planet. For this reason, carbon dioxide is referred to as a greenhouse gas. Increased concentrations of greenhouse gases, due to human activities, are the primary cause of the global warming taking place over the last several decades.
These facts have been established for many years. Still, many Americans are either not aware of these facts, or refuse to accept them as facts, or refuse to support policies to deal with these facts.
Because large numbers of Americans are not dealing with the facts of global warming, one of the most important aspects of activism against global warming is the effort to make the facts known, and to keep them in the conscious awareness of more Americans.
The web site CO2Now is providing a tool for activists to help them provide one memorable fact about global warming: Sometime, probably in about two years if current trends hold, the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide will rise to 400 parts per million.
There’s nothing particularly special about the statistic of 400 parts per million of carbon dioxide. It’s not as if terrible disasters will take place with CO2 at 400 ppm that could be avoided if CO2 was at 399 ppm. Climatological disasters are already taking place, and will continue to worsen, even if CO2 remains at 395 ppm. Even if we human atmospheric pollution is reduced to more reasonable levels, CO2 levels won’t go down to the relatively safe level of 350 ppm for a long, long time to come.
Still, the movement of atmospheric concentration of CO2 past 400 ppm, because it’s a round number, represents a memorable and avoidable threshold. It’s a level of carbon dioxide that we can avoid, if we drive our cars less, and consume resources less wastefully. Right now, the will to become more efficient, and less dependent on fossil fuels, is present only among a minority in the United States.
That’s why the widget you see below, supplied for free by CO2Now, is important. Simply by posting this widget on your web site or social media accounts, you will remind large numbers of visitors of the real of the global ecological crisis we face. Hopefully, you will also provoke the realization that the crisis need not get worse. We can slow it down, if we all work together.
The widget is available in several formats, all listed on the CO2Now web site. Please, take a few moments today to help keep the climate crisis in the conscious awareness of American voters.