New Weekly Record Set at the Mauna Loa Observatory for CO2 Concentrations 417.97 ppm.

[NNadir]

As I've indicated several times I somewhat obsessively 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.

This week's reading is the first in the history of weekly average readings, going back, to 1975 posted by the Mauna Loa is the highest ever recorded at the Mauna Loa carbon dioxide observatory, 417.97.


Up-to-date weekly average CO2 at Mauna Loa

Week beginning on February 28, 2021: 417.97 ppm
Weekly value from 1 year ago: 414.07 ppm
Weekly value from 10 years ago: 392.12 ppm

The increase in carbon dioxide concentrations when compared to the same week in 2020 is 3.90 ppm. Going back to 1975, there are 2,341 data points in year to year comparisons for the same week of the year. This week's is tied for the 24th worst of all time.

In my spreadsheet, I keep records of the increases over 10 year periods, in this case, a comparison of the reading this past week, with the last week of May in 2011. Using Excel functions, I can sort them by values high to low and do a lot of other things.

One can see, even if one's mathematical is as low as say, a typical member of Greenpeace, that the difference between this week and the same week ten years ago, is 25.85 ppm. Again, the posted weekly Mauna Loa data goes back to May of 1975. Thus the comparisons between the figures in a particular week with that of the figure ten years earlier begin in 1986. There are 1,451 such ten year comparisons as of this writing. The figure for this week, again 25.85 ppm, is the highest such comparison ever recorded. Of the top 20 such ten year record increases in week to week data, three have been recorded in 2021, and all have been recorded since 2019.

If any of this troubles you, don't worry, be happy. You can always head over to the E&E forum and read that "renewable energy is growing 'exponentially.'" I've been hearing that, of course, my whole damned life and I'm not young, but again, don't worry, be happy.

You can also read how "nuclear energy is too expensive." The earliest nuclear plant ever built in the Western World produced electricity for half a century. It was built on 1940's and early 1950's technology. Modern nuclear plants are designed to last 60 years or more. After they are amortized they are cash cows, they produce electricity only requiring trivial low fuel costs and maintenance costs.

By contrast, every damned piece of so called "renewable energy" on this planet will need replacement in 25 years or less - a few wind turbines, very few, as reported at the comprehensive Master Register of Wind Turbines from the Energy Agency of that off shore oil and gas drilling hellhole, Denmark, lasted 30 years; almost all of them were landfill in 25 years or less, with an average lifetime of under 20 years. Wind turbines will be greasy rotting hulks requiring diesel trucks to haul the blades to landfills before most babies born in 2021 graduate from college. Pretty much every damned solar cell now on this planet will all be more already intractable electronic waste in 25 years.

Nuclear energy is too expensive for whom? Certainly not for future generations, but we certainly don't give a rat's ass about their lives. When it comes to providing for them, we couldn't care less. We all turn into Ayn Rand when discussing nuclear energy; we only care for ourselves and those babies born today will have to deal with the shit we leave behind on a planet choking to death on dangerous fossil fuel waste, leaking fracking fields, destroyed ground water, abandoned depleted mines dug so we could be "green," with all of the world's best ores completely depleted etc.

History will not forgive us; nor should it.

I trust you are having a pleasant and safe Sunday.