Newest information from the Bloomberg Carbon Clock shows the June 2021 carbon concentration in the air is ~416 ppm. We’re in the low side of the annual trends because all the green plants in the northern hemisphere lands and oceans are working overtime to capture carbon and make sugars. (Welcome to the club, Artic plankton, now that the sun shines brightly on the surface of your waters!)
Deaths caused by the extreme heat and cold from the warming earth and its climate changes are now running at about 5 million per year ( see the Monash University, Shandong University report published in The Lancet Planetary Health). Covid-19 is catching up, having crossed the 4 million mark over the course of the pandemic. Nearly half of the deaths were in Asia, with about 835,000 in Europe and more than 70,000 in the US.
But there will be some good news at the international Conference of the Parties (COP 26) in early November. We’ve seen more than 13,000 businesses, hundreds of cities, most of the Paris Agreement countries and the investment community show more ambition as the world starts to make the race of this decade one we can win.
Fight the good fight.
Sarah J. Simon, P.E. 