Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

NNadir

(34,645 posts)
Sun Nov 19, 2023, 10:35 AM Nov 2023

At the Mauna Loa CO2 Observatory, we've again surged past 421 ppm for weekly readings.

Last edited Sun Nov 19, 2023, 11:38 AM - Edit history (1)

As I've indicated repeatedly in my DU writings, somewhat obsessively I keep a spreadsheet of the weekly data at the Mauna Loa Carbon Dioxide Observatory, which I use to do calculations to record the dying of our atmosphere, a triumph of fear, dogma and ignorance that did not have to be, but nonetheless is, a fact.

Facts matter.

When writing these depressing repeating posts about new records being set, reminiscent, over the years, to the ticking of a clock at a deathwatch, I often repeat some of the language from a previous post on this awful series, as I am doing here. It saves time.

Here is a recent example in this class of postings from earlier this year that I can quickly locate: New Weekly CO2 Concentration Record Set at the Mauna Loa Observatory, 422.60 ppm.

Ultimately the 2023 record for the dangerous fossil fuel waste CO2 concentrations in the planetary atmosphere was set during the week beginning May 28, 2023 when the concentration was 424.64 ppm. The readings are generally sinusoidal superimposed on a roughly quadratic axis, with local annual minima set generally in September or October of any given year, and local maxima set in an April-May-(sometimes) June time frame. I derived a crude formula for the quadratic axis here:

A Commentary on Failure, Delusion and Faith: Danish Data on Big Wind Turbines and Their Lifetimes.



Here are the current readings at Mauna Loa for the week beginning November 12, 2023:

Week beginning on November 12, 2023: 421.22 ppm
Weekly value from 1 year ago: 417.31 ppm
Weekly value from 10 years ago: 395.64 ppm
Last updated: November 19, 2023


Weekly average CO2 at Mauna Loa

The current reading is 3.91 ppm over the reading for the same week of last year, week 45, 2022, the week beginning November 13, 2022. There are as of this writing, 2,494 weekly readings in my spreadsheet, going back to 1975. This is the 23rd highest weekly reading ever recorded in this time, placing it in the 99th percentile of all such readings. Of the 50 highest readings in my spreadsheet, 13 have occurred in the last 5 years, 33 in the last ten years, and 40 in the 21st century.

In the 21st century, there has been a lot of jawboning about a so called "energy transition" as if it actually exists.

It doesn't.

We are using more dangerous fossil fuels than ever before, and we have no rational plan to stop using them, this the result of mindless selective attention of dumb assed antinukes who oppose the only sustainable option left to us.

This jawboning involves trumpeting the trillions of dollars squandered on solar and wind energy, coupled with all kinds of soothsaying about how this mass intensive, money intensive and land intensive unsustainable scheme will save the day.

It won't.

The data, coupled with absurd soothsaying:

If you want to know why the planet was on fire in the northern hemisphere summer this year, it may be useful to look at the following table, Table A.1a on Page 264 of the 2023 World Energy Outlook published by the International Energy Agency (IEA).




I have reproduced the excerpted text from another of my posts here: The 2023 World Energy Outlook Has Been Released. 632 EJ, 15 EJ from Solar and Wind in 2022.

If the soothsaying data in this table is actually realized, the planet will be in flames even more regularly than it is now, and now is already a disaster.

As an environmentalist of the increasingly rare John Muir type - one who believes that wilderness should be protected rather than converted into industrial parks for energy production, including for wind and solar crappy industrial parks - I am thoroughly disgusted not just with the failure to address climate change with any practical program, but also with the lies that persist that we are doing "something" rather than nothing, which is what we are doing.

Let me repeat: Nothing practical is being done.

Have a pleasant Sunday and enjoy the upcoming holiday.

Latest Discussions»Culture Forums»Science»At the Mauna Loa CO2 Obse...