Climate Change Update: CO2 Levels in the Arctic Have Reached 400 PPM

Considered by many scientists to be the highest safe level for the concentration of the gas in the atmosphere – 350 parts per million (PPM) , CO2 levels are well in excess of that number today. Standing globally at 395 PPM, the most recent Arctic readings this spring measure more than 400 PPM.

It has been 800,000 years, based on geological records, since the Earth has seen CO2 levels this high. Readings in Alaska, Greenland, Norway, Iceland and Mongolia this spring have all reached or exceeded the 400 PPM plateau.

Following the year of no winter in most of North America, and a record 12 extreme weather events causing more than $1 billion U.S. in damages, we have witnessed temperature extremes, drought and severe weather on a unprecedented scale.