The fact that CO2 levels in the atmosphere being monitored at more than 420ppm (421.21) for the first time didn’t make headlines shows what’s wrong with the way the media reports about the climate crisis and how we talk about it as a society.

People need to have the…

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knowledge about what’s happening in order to understand the depth of the catastrophe we’re in.

421 might seem like a random number to you, but it’s not. We reached new records every single year except 2018 in the 21st century. Last year, it was 418.32. …

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In 2019, we reached 415ppm. In 2017 we reached 410 and when the Paris agreements were signed, the record was 404.65. Yeah, in 6 years, we went from 404 to more than 420.

When I was born, in 2003, the record was 380.17. It means that just in my lifetime (18 years, rather…

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…short I hope I can say compared to human standards…), I have already seen an increase of more than 40 ppm. The previous 40 ppm increase took 23 years, 5 years more. And more importantly, the 40 ppm increase before that took 70 years. And before, there had been NO 40 ppm…

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…increase. The CO2 levels have been stable around 280ppm for thousands of years until we (meaning Global North countries in this thread) started massively burning fossil fuels in the mid-1800s.

So yeah since preindustrial level, we have caused an increase of 140ppm,…

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…from 280 to 420ppm. That’s us. Rich countries, that’s our legacy. And almost a third of it happened during my lifetime, which is even more scary because I am 18. That should give you an idea of how rapidly we’re fucking things up.

Okay so now, what does that mean? Right.

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Since the beginning of the thread, I just write basic comparisons between numbers but that doesn’t mean anything to you.

Basically, ppm is a unit used to measure the proportion of CO2 molecules in the air (parts per million).

During that 140 ppm raise, global…

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…temperatures increased by about 1 degree Celsius. Doesn’t sound like a lot, but you have to know it’s an average. There are places it increases less and places it increases more. I’m sure you (in Global North countries) noticed that winters and summers are messed up now,…

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…that heatwaves are more and more frequent… that’s the climate crisis for us. In Global South countries, it means worse meteorological events (more floods, storms, heatwaves…) AND water & food shortages, more conflicts, more poverty, more deaths. Basically.

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That’s what it means. So yeah, 421.21 (which will certainly be even higher later this year) is just a number. But it’s something everyone should care about. Because it’s an indicator of how livable the Earth is. An indicator of what we’re doing to it. Our legacy.

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