2018 another year of record temperatures around the world

Es­ti­mated reading time is 2 min­utes.

THE GREEN­HOUSE GAS BUL­LETIN from the World Me­te­o­ro­log­ical Or­ga­ni­za­tion (WMO) pro­vided fig­ures for glob­ally av­er­aged con­cen­tra­tions of three key climate-heating gases in 2018: ni­trous oxide (N₂O), carbon dioxide (CO₂), and methane (CH₄). The pres­ence of these three gases in our at­mos­phere have in­creased by 123%, 147%, and 259% of pre-industrial levels (levels prior to 1750).

The Green­house Gas Bul­letin noted. that in terms of con­tri­bu­tions to warming the cli­mate, “carbon dioxide is the single most im­por­tant an­thro­pogenic GHG in the at­mos­phere” among all long-lived green­house gases, the pri­mary focus of the report.

 

“We need to trans­late the com­mit­ments into ac­tion and in­crease the level of am­bi­tion for the sake of the fu­ture wel­fare of mankind.”

 

Ap­prox­i­mately 60% of CH₄ and 40% of N₂O emitted into the at­mos­phere comes from human ac­tiv­i­ties such as bio­mass burning, cattle farming, fossil fuel ex­ploita­tion, land­fills, rice agri­cul­ture, fer­til­izer use, and var­ious in­dus­trial processes.

From 2017 to 2018, con­cen­tra­tions of all three gases surged by higher amounts than the yearly in­creases doc­u­mented over the past decade.

 

The future welfare of mankind

WMO Secretary-General Pet­teri Taalas tied the bul­let­in’s find­ings to the ne­ces­sity of bolder cli­mate ac­tion on a global scale:

“There is no sign of a slow­down, let alone a de­cline, in green­house gases con­cen­tra­tion in the at­mos­phere de­spite all the com­mit­ments under the Paris agree­ment on cli­mate change. We need to trans­late the com­mit­ments into ac­tion and in­crease the level of am­bi­tion for the sake of the fu­ture wel­fare of mankind.”

The last time the Earth ex­pe­ri­enced a com­pa­rable con­cen­tra­tion of CO₂ was 3-5 mil­lion years ago [and] the tem­per­a­ture was 2-3°C warmer while sea level was 30-60 feet higher than now.

To read this ar­ticle in its en­tirety, click HERE.

We need to trans­late the com­mit­ments into ac­tion and in­crease the level of am­bi­tion for the sake of the fu­ture wel­fare of mankind. Click To Tweet

FEA­TURED IMAGE: The car­toon at the top of this page is by Patrick Chap­patte for Le Temps (April 28, 2015). In this new cen­tury, our most pop­u­lous state has en­dured pro­longed drought, in­un­dating storms and raging wild­fires. For more on the award-winning car­toonist Patrick Chap­patte, click HERE.