From February to June of 2016, each month has established new records for CO2 increases in that... [View all]

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month.

The Mauna Loa Carbon Dioxide Observatory (accessed 07/08/16) reports each month the values for carbon dioxide concentrations of the previous month, comparing them with the same month of the previous year.

Previously in this space, I reported that April 2016 set a new record for any monthly increase in any month, 4.16 ppm higher than April of 2015, 2015 itself having been the worst year ever recorded for carbon dioxide increases.

April 2016 over April 2015 sets the all time monthly record for increases in atmospheric CO2.

That was the first value ever recorded to exceed 4.00 ppm for a month compared to the same month of the previous year.

June of 2016, the month just passed has now become the second such month, coming in at 4.01 ppm over June of 2015.

For perspective, consider this: This data goes back to 1959 when the observatory was opened. It took until 1973 to record the first month that had an increase in carbon dioxide greater than 2.00 ppm. March of 1973 was 2.55 ppm over March of 1972. August of 1973 narrowly missed being the first month to exceed 3.00, having come in at 2.99 ppm. However no month did exceed 3.00 ppm until June of 1998, when after the massive fires in Southeast Asia that began when fires set to clear rain forest for palm oil plantations designed to produce so called "renewable energy," biodiesel, went out of control, burning much of the Indonesian and Malaysian rain forests. Since January of 2015 only three of the eighteen months recorded have been below 2.00 ppm increases over the same month of previous year, seven of the eighteen have been over 3.00 ppm, and all seven have occurred since November of 2015.

February of 2016 was the worst February ever recorded, coming in at 3.76 ppm over February 2015. March of 2016 was the worst March ever recorded, coming in at 3.31 ppm over March of 2015. April of 2016 we've already discussed as the worst monthly increase ever observed. May of 2016 was the worst May ever recorded, coming in at 3.76 ppm, tying it with February for the 3rd worst month ever observed, and, again, June of 2016 is the worst June ever recorded, and the second worst month ever recorded.

Thus five of the six past months have each set a records for those months for being the worst of all time.

It is very clear from this data, and the weekly data which I similarly record and about which I've written this year extensively, most recently a few weeks back ( All time record set for week-to-week annual measurements of annual CO2 increases at Mauna Loa.) that all our efforts to address climate change are miserable failures.

If any of this upsets you, don't worry be happy. Reporters - obviously reporters who have never passed or taken a science or engineering course but who cares? - at Reuters have reported that Big solar is leaving rooftop systems in the dust. "Big Solar" after decades of cheering for it, and hundreds of billions of dollars sunk into it, is producing as much energy as three average sized coal plants in the United States, but it's the thought that counts, not the results.

I'm sure future generations, when considering ours, will happily overlook the fact that we completely and totally destroyed the atmosphere, this while dreaming of the wind and solar nirvana that, like Godot, never comes.

As a long time critic of our delusions of these types, if any of this sounds like Shadenfreud, it's not. The heat chokes the just and unjust alike.

Have a nice weekend.