Mauna Loa CO2 Observatory Milestone. Ten years ago this week we first saw readings above 400 ppm.
It may be true that the annual peak in CO2 concentrations at the Mauna Loa (Maunakea) CO2 observatory may have passed in the week of May 7, when the reading came in at 424.24 ppm. It is possible it will be passed later this month, even early June.
Last week's readings are these:
Week beginning on May 14, 2023: 423.50 ppm
Weekly value from 1 year ago: 421.20 ppm
Weekly value from 10 years ago: 400.14 ppm
Last updated: May 21, 2023
Weekly average CO2 at Mauna Loa
This reading, 400.14 ppm was the first to exceed 400 ppm, in the week May 19, 2013.
On average, a one year running average of ten year comparators of weekly data is higher than this single data point represents; it is currently coming in 24.26 ppm/10 years. (Except for the last few weeks, 2023 has been a relatively mild year; for the week of Jan. 1, 2023, this running average was 24.50 ppm/10 years; the data is noisy.)
The first reading to exceed 420 ppm was in the week beginning April 24, 2021, when the reading was 420.01 ppm, representing the peak reading in 2021. Last year's maximum came in at 421.63 ppm for the week beginning May 29, 2022.
The first reading to exceed 380 ppm was in for the week beginning April 4, 2004.
Between 2004 and 2018 the amount of money squandered on solar and wind energy amounted to over three trillion dollars, $3,062,600,000,000 according to the Frankfurt School UNEP 2020 report (see figure 42).
In recent times, the point of the solar and wind energy has been described as being about addressing climate change. As someone who has followed this obscene waste of money for decades - I even once supported it - I know that this is nonsense. It never was about climate change. The main point of the industry was never about addressing dangerous fossil fuels. It was always about attacking nuclear energy. The Germans didn't phase out coal; they embraced it as a result of embracing solar and wind energy. They phased out nuclear energy. The attack on nuclear energy was successful, with the result that climate change is destroying the planet.
Here we are, in a year that we first saw 424 ppm of the dangerous fossil fuel waste carbon dioxide in the planetary atmosphere. The planet is on fire. I would have thought that the people who are responsible for this might have considered whether climate change is "too dangerous," but their definition of "too dangerous" was applied with extreme ignorance producing a very malign result.
If I sound angry, it's probably because I am.
I trust you're having a pleasant weekend.
