3.2  Average Earth temperatures are rising

Earth’s fierce response - average Earth temperatures are rising

CO2 is now at 417 ppm and is about 49% higher than it was in the pre-industrial period. CO2 is at the highest level for at least 2 million years. The rate of CO2 increase over the past 20 years is about 100x the maximum rate the CO2 changed in the atmosphere before the last Ice Age.

In June 2021, NASA released a report that stated that the amount of heat trapped near Earth’s surface has approximately doubled since 2005. Just in the past 16 years, the Earth has been warming faster than expected. 

One of the more important graphs shows the warming of the Earth. The Earth was cooling up until 1850. After 1850, the human industrial revolution resulted in burning a large amount of Fossil Fuel, and this is rapidly increasing the measurable temperature of the Earth.

It is the rate of change, and not just the absolute amount of change, that is so important.  Since about 1970, global average temperatures have continually risen more than at any other time. This is emphasised in the IPCC AR6 Report.

When you put the current CO2 and temperature rises together, there is no known past equivalent occurrence in the entire past 4.5 billion year history of the Earth.

Reference: Information from the Special IPCC Briefing with Professor Lesley Hughes – organised by Groundswell Giving - Thu 2nd Sep 2021, 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm AEST