Atmospheric CO2 Surpassed A Notable Milestone
Posted by Michelle Moquin on May 16th, 2013
Good morning!
In response to yesterday’s blog write, since according to republicans “…the world is going to end at a predestined time anyhow,” why bother with interrupting “…God’s ordained date.” Ah…those environmentalists….they’re just a “left wing cult which seeks to bring down the kind of government I believe in.”
With that said, here is the status of our beloved Earth:
Atmospheric CO2 Concentrations Surpass 400 PPM Milestone
Atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide surpassed a notable milestone this week.
They reached a daily average above 400 parts per million, reported NOAA, for the first time in human history.
The milestone, hit on May 9, may be symbolic, notes Climate Central, but manmade CO2 emissions from the burning of fossil fuels continue to rise, bringing greater atmospheric warming and exacerbating the effects of climate change.
Scientists argue we’ve loaded the “climate dice” in favor of more weather anomalies and extreme heat waves.
Research also shows that continued emissions of long-lived greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide will mean “largely irreversible” climate change for 1,000 years even after we curtail emissions.
“The last time we’re confident that CO2 was sustained at these levels is more than 10 million years ago, during the middle of the Miocene period,” climate scientist Michael Mann told The Huffington Post in an email. “This was a time when global temperatures were substantially warmer than today, and there was very little ice around anywhere on the planet.”
Readings are taken at the NOAA-operated Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii and form part of the Keeling Curve – a continuous record of CO2 measurements dating back to 1958. Bubbles found inside Antarctic ice core samples provide a longer record of CO2 in the air for the past 800,000 years.
CO2 measurements surpassed 400 ppm in the Arctic last summer, but the readings from Hawaii mark the first time prolonged levels above 400 ppm have been observed at more moderate latitudes.
Global carbon dioxide levels fluctuate over the course of the year, reaching an annual peak in May. LiveScience explains that the cycle reveals how trees and vegetation remove more CO2 from the air during the summer, until the annual minimum is reached in October.
“Take this day and the milestone it represents to reflect on the fragility of our civilization and and the planetary ecosystem on which it depends,” Al Gore urged on Friday. “We must take immediate action to solve this crisis. Not tomorrow, not next week, not next year. Now.”
350.org founder Bill McKibben said in a statement emailed to HuffPost, “The only question now is whether the relentless rise in carbon can be matched by a relentless rise in the activism necessary to stop it.”
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Readers: Like I said, the repubs are a disease that will eventually die when the host they’re living off of ceases to be able to sustain them. That is if their racist and misogynistic plans don’t come to fruition first. I am doing all I am able to prevent that. I HOPE you are too.
Blog me.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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May 17th, 2013 at 5:12 am
All this rape talk has convinced me that I need to buy a gun. It is the only equalizer between a man and a woman. I used to believe in God, but lately it has occurred that if God cared all that much rape wouldn’t be as prevalent.
May 17th, 2013 at 5:16 am
Michelle, I like that you use your blog to go after the 100% successful anti-gun control billions of the gun manufacturers.
They get legislators to contravene public opinion AND plain common sense, to disable all gun-related law enforcement. When the law enables the criminals, it’s the hallmark of a corrupt regime.
May 17th, 2013 at 5:18 am
The Upper 7% of American families increased their income 30% and the lower 94% decreased their income 4%. That is the nature of usurious finance and monopolistic capitalism and the role of mercantelism with SCOTUS acting as the de facto rubber stamp.
May 17th, 2013 at 5:19 am
There’s only one real solution – tax the rich.
Make the rich pay the same rates they paid during the Eisenhower era. Let’s also get rid of all the tax breaks the rich enjoyed.
The rich will still have plenty of money – but they’ll have less income to play politics. We also need to reform 501(c)4′s laws. Make them more transparent and pass the DISCLOSE and Follow the Money Act.
I’d also suggest investigating some of the chief justices for conflict-of-interests, especially when Clarence Thomas’ wife got $ 680,000 from the Koch Brothers, courtesy of the Heritage Foundation.
The only way to save democracy is to prevent wealth and power from accumulating in the hand of the few. That incidentally happened in the bad old USSR, (Ever hear of the Nomenklatura?) And look at the results.
May 17th, 2013 at 5:33 am
Robert, RT, I am a college professor. Your treatise on the US Constitution has opened up a entirely unique way to approach that body of work for me.
Honestly, it never occurred to me to the “We” in that opening preamble referred only to white males. We I proposed a new line of discourse to my Dean using that angle, he angrily accused me of being a communist.
That was way out of left or right field depending on your politics. I suggested there was plenty of historical basis to take that point of view.
He said that even if it were true, it would offend too many to risk taking such a controversial approach in a university that had less than 3% minority enrollment.
I didn’t want to risk escalating the situation as I could see he was very upset that I had dared to sully the sacred document.
Since that discussion, perhaps because of it I was more determined to research it more. I am convinced that you are correct. Once one begins to examine your contention logically, one can only arrive at the conclusion that the “We” applies only to white men.
May 17th, 2013 at 5:37 am
Already fanned Thelma.
The U.S. Supreme Court, for over 150 years, consistently recognized that “free speech” is relative. In the context of individuals, whom individually are subject to huge damage of lost free expression rights, the Court consistently recognized a broad right, leavened in wisdom – laws have always rightly restricted speech when it becomes criminal (i.e. causing likelihood of imminent severe physical harm), fraud, etc.
The Court also consistently recognized that corporate “free speech” is far less likely to face restrictions of a nature that individuals do, and that their speech was largely a factor of money.
They consistently held, for over 150 years, from court to court, justice to justice, that money is not the equivalent of speech. It’s common sense.
Four justices on this Court, appointed by Bush, Bush & Reagan, are so arrogant that they substituted their ideological-driven-pro-corporate agenda for over 150 years of precedent, over the wise objections of the other 4 justices.
Unequal influence is not speech or democracy; it’s buying elections.
The naivete of those who say that the money doesn’t buy elections is incredible.
While in the 2012 national elections, Adelson made poor investments, the Chamber of Commerce regularly misrepresents facts and elects pro-Big-Business candidates state by state, and nationally. Buying elections is not guaranteed by the Constitution.
May 17th, 2013 at 5:37 am
Fuck you commie bastards Steve.
May 17th, 2013 at 5:39 am
The core of the problem is the rise of neoliberalism (economic), and barely fettered capitalism, with the fall of the USSR. Now don’t get me wrong, I was witness to the fall of the USSR and it was a wonderful thing to see – totalitarianism is never a good thing.
I remember my idealism of youth, when I saw the Berlin Wall come down, thinking – wow, sometimes changes come that you’d never thought possible.
However, what came after, fairly rapidly, in the West soon portended grim things to come. A hubris arose, somewhat equivalent to “Communism failed – so we won – so Capitalism is the better system, therefore, MORE Capitalism will be even better.” – which amounted to the rise of neoliberalism and ‘unfettered/unregulated’ Capitalism. Market forces were almost deified and there began the issue.
The error was in seeing the Cold War as defining the only options, that it was either one system or the other – a binary choice. However, things are always more complicated than that.
The assumption made, that if communism failed then capitalism could not, was flawed from the outset. Perhaps, the point is, that both systems, if taken to excess, are in trouble.
Then of course, there are the possible systems we’ve not even explored yet – I mean, why should we when the ‘winning/perfect system’ already exists.
May 17th, 2013 at 5:40 am
So what if the “We the people..” refers only to white males. It was white males that formed this great country.
May 17th, 2013 at 5:42 am
Let me explain something to you.
Money isn’t power. Money spent on speech gets you…speech. Speech is harmless. Speech cannot force anyone to do anything.
Only the voters have power. Speech can’t force the voters to vote a certain way.
May 17th, 2013 at 5:48 am
Fend Off Sniffles: How to Keep Your Sinuses Moist
Colds are more common in the late fall and winter for a few reasons.
For one thing, when the weather cools, we spend less time in fresh air and more time indoors, so we’re more likely to inhale the germs that other people carry and spread when they sneeze and cough.
Another reason? When the temperature drops outside, we tend to crank up the heat inside. Heat dries the air, which can then dry out our nasal passages and sinuses.
When the nasal passages and sinuses dry out, either they don’t produce enough mucus or the mucus becomes too thick and can’t drain, making germs more likely to cause infections.
But keeping your sinuses moist, especially in cold months, helps protect you, according to Jordan S. Josephson, MD, director of New York Nasal and Sinus Center in New York City and author of Sinus Relief Now (Perigee Trade), who recently told me about some easy ways to do this.
A CONTROVERSIAL TOPIC
Before we jump into Dr. Josephson’s advice, it’s worth noting that not all experts agree on this issue. In fact, you might remember a 2010 Daily Health News article that reported on a study that found that people who irrigated their sinuses—one of Dr. Josephson’s suggestions—had more sinus infections than those who didn’t.
But Dr. Josephson disagrees with those findings, because over the past two decades, he has recommended sinus irrigation to tens of thousands of his patients, and almost every one of them has told him that it has helped ward off sickness.
BEST WAYS TO IRRIGATE THE SINUSES
Here are the top techniques that’ll keep your sinuses moist, according to Dr. Josephson, who has no financial interest in the following products…
Most people find the greatest relief from using a neti pot, which looks like a little teapot. Every day, fill it with sterile water and salt (premeasured packets usually come with the neti pot, or you can buy them separately).
Then, with your head tilted over the sink, insert the spout into one nostril and let the water flow. Most people pour all the water at once, slowly, but you can start with a little at a time if it feels better.
Gravity sends the salt water through the nasal cavity and sinuses and out the other nostril. Dr. Josephson recommends the NeilMed NasaFlo neti pot, which is available in drugstores and at Drugstore.com for about $15.
Be sure to use only distilled water that you have boiled to sterilize and have cooled to room temperature, because as you might remember from this Daily Health News article from February 2012, using unsterile water can potentially lead to a deadly infection.
For people with especially thick mucus or crusty nasal passages who find that the neti pot isn’t working, Dr Josephson said to try using the Grossan Hydro Pulse, which might be a better option.
It’s more expensive, but this electric appliance sends pulses of saline into the sinuses and breaks up thick or crusty mucus. It sells for about $78 in drugstores and on http://www.HydroMedOnline.com.
If the neti pot and the Hydro Pulse sound too expensive or too hard to use, irrigating with a saline nasal spray is a decent choice. But a spray’s effect isn’t as long-lasting, so you need to use the spray several times a day.
Dr. Josephson recommends a brand called Little Noses by Little Remedies Saline Spray/Drops (it’s a dropper when you hold it upside-down and a sprayer when you hold it right-side up, and it costs about $4 for one ounce) or Ayr Saline Nasal Mist (about $3 for 1.69 ounces). They’re available in drugstores or on Drugstore.com.
He also likes Ultra Saline Nasal Mist from Goldberger’s pharmacy ($5 for two ounces) from store.GoldbergersPharmacy.com.
EXTRA TIPS TO PREVENT DRYNESS
Breathing in steam from a hot shower…a hot, wet washcloth…or a hot cup of tea also helps, but those strategies won’t moisturize your nostrils as much as the techniques listed above.
Other ways to prevent dryness in your nasal passages and sinuses: Keep your home warm but not too warm (between 68°F and 72°F is generally best)…
use a vaporizer or humidifier that’s easy to clean so you can keep it free of mold and bacteria (if you buy one that lets you set the humidity level, the Mayo Clinic recommends keeping it between 30% and 50%)…staying hydrated (drink extra water and cut back on caffeine and alcohol)…and, of course, not smoking, because that really dries you out.
Source: Jordan S. Josephson, MD, director, New York Nasal and Sinus Center, New York City, and author of Sinus Relief Now: The Groundbreaking, 5-Step Program for Sinus, Allergy, and Asthma Sufferers (Perigee Trade). http://www.SinusReliefNow.com
May 17th, 2013 at 5:52 am
Kate #8, I get much of that….but really, it’s the far right that has screwed up
the system for the most part….from unfair elections to
senseless war’s….how do you get ‘ neoliberalism ‘ ?
Have ‘moderates’ compromised too often, no doubt.
As bad as the far right, no way.
May 17th, 2013 at 5:53 am
high school economics, three economic models:
1. command economy- communism, dictatorship.
2. laissez-faire- ‘free market’
3. mixed economy: government and busainess
business hates the last option in much the same way bank robbers hate theft laws.
the mixed economy worked well between the wars -until one of the periodic collapses of capitalism. you learn that in high school economics too. doesn’t take much insight to see its limitations and i was a conservative young man then!
May 17th, 2013 at 5:54 am
Zen Lill will we have to wait until the summer is over to see your fall selections?
May 17th, 2013 at 6:06 am
Norris, “it was white males that formed this great country.” Wow, that is wrong on so many levels.
I will just go to the crux. This country didn’t have a chance to become “great” until All its people were given a opportunity to participate in its growth.
Actually, it took a black male to give its people as in we the people, significant Health Care, freedom from “Don’t ask, don’t tell,” significant protection from rape in the military, Marriage Equality, Protection for undocumented Aliens, Equitable Student Loans, Fair representation of women and OTWs on SCOTUS, etc, etc.
The wealth of the South and much of the intellectual progress in general has come from OTWs.
What self delusional world are you living in?
May 17th, 2013 at 6:10 am
John #10: ” Speech can’t force the voters to vote a certain way.”
But speech may be persuasive, compelling, threatening and finally coercive if that mode of communication is largely through media controlled through economic advantage. Voters bothering to listen or watch may make decisions based entirely on an exclusive diet of lies.
May 17th, 2013 at 6:11 am
Money, in today’s system, gets you quite a bit more than speech. It gets you monopolies on media outlets and the ability to purchase politicians. That, indeed, is power. And, it is power concentrated into the hands of a very few instead of where it should be, in the people.
May 17th, 2013 at 6:13 am
Billionaires will, at some point in the near future, decide to just do away with elections as a way of preserving power. They’re already buying candidates.
Next, they’ll buy the election machines and rig the vote, just as one of Romney’s kids began doing. Then elections will matter even less, until voting will be a vestigial organ of a vestigial democracy. And this moment is coming fast.
By 2016, it will be clear that NO ONE who isn’t well connected to extreme wealth will be able to run for national office. If we’re complaining now that Washington politicians don’t listen to the interests of the general public once they get elected, we haven’t seen anything yet.
May 17th, 2013 at 6:17 am
Carlos, very well delivered. I am a white ex military officer who was driven out of the military when I was exposed as being Gay under “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
I throughly agree with you. If we had another white male in the White House, the military would still be operating under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
Only a white male could accept forcing others human beings to live under such emotional tyranny.
May 17th, 2013 at 6:45 am
The conservatives fight with Planned Parenthood is less about abortion and more about their fight to keep women poor and oppressed, dependent on men for their future.
It is about making sure that women are forced into motherhood against their will by not only denying abortions but all forms of birth control that are not controlled completely by men (condoms).
In addition, it allows men to decide if women are even given proper medical care for all diseases that are solely or primarily contracted by women (ovarian, uterine, cervical and breast cancer).
Now they are fielding Karen Handel, the former Susan G. Komen for the Cure executive at the center of last year’s public clash with Planned Parenthood. She’ll be running for an open U.S. Senate seat in Georgia.
May 17th, 2013 at 7:06 am
What else is new? All this talk by the republicans about a Benghazi cover by the White House and now we discover that it is the republicans that have been altering the Benghazi emails to make it look like the White House has been altering emails.
====================
One day after The White House released 100 pages of Benghazi emails, a report has surfaced alleging that Republicans released a set with altered text.
CBS News reported Thursday that leaked versions sent out by the GOP last Friday had visible differences than Wednesday’s official batch. Two correspondences that were singled out in the report came from National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes and State Department Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.
May 17th, 2013 at 7:29 am
The recent verdict and recommendation of the death penalty for Jodi just reflects how biased the system is towards white men.
How many white men don’t get the death penalty for their heinous crimes, yet the jury and media was foaming at the mouth to get this silly woman the death penalty.
May 17th, 2013 at 7:56 am
On that tornado that hit Granbury TX, oh the irony of living in what is called gods country, yet all he does is try and kill the people that live there….. you cant thank god for being alive, yet not blame him for almost killing you…..
May 17th, 2013 at 8:19 am
Let’s hope it is not true that someone is poaching dolphins on Guam.
Hafa Adai
Anna