Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations have risen by more than 40% since scientists first started recording these levels, from 280 parts per million (ppm) in 1958 to over 400ppm today.
According to NOAA2, over the past 800,000 years, atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations have fluctuated between 180 ppm during ice ages to 280 ppm during warm interglacial periods.
Trending increase of CO2
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Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations are not only higher than they have been in over 800,000 years, the current increase that we are seeing today is more than 100 times faster than that experienced at the end of the last ice age. This is largely due to human activities; primarily the burning of fossil fuels, but also due to deforestation as a result of logging for timber and clearing for agriculture and development.
Human sources of carbon dioxide
Human sources of carbon dioxide include:
Burning Fossil Fuels: burning coal to generate electricity, burning oil to power vehicles and aircraft (vehicle emissions), or burning wood in fires used for cooking or to provide heat, etc. changes the state of stored organic carbon from a liquid (e.g. oil) or solid (e.g. coal/wood) into a gas (carbon dioxide) which is released into the atmosphere.
Deforestation: vegetation absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere during the process of photosynthesis, converting this to carbon which is stored within all plants (i.e it is a carbon sink). When vegetation is burned, this organic carbon is released into the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide, and in so doing becomes a carbon source rather than a carbon sink.