According to a warning that was transmitted this week by scientist, in our atmosphere today there is more CO2 than three million years ago. The level of carbon dioxide has been this high for the last time when the sea levels were up to 20 meters higher, Greenland was mostly green, and trees grew on Antarctica.
Researchers at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), in Germany used a new computer simulation that helped them find that the last time the atmosphere of our planet had the same high levels of CO2 as there is now, was during the Pliocene epoch, the geological period 2.6-5.3 million years ago.
Climate change is happening because of the CO2 emissions that come from human activities. It is unnatural how high the levels of CO2 are today in our atmosphere, according to what lead-author Matteo Willeit told CNN.
Atmospheric CO2 levels are now higher than they were 3 million years ago
In addition to that, he said that the simulation showed the team of researchers that CO2 should not be higher than 280 parts per million (ppm) if there is no human activity, but with that included we are are currently at 410 ppm and rising.
The mean temperatures of the globe are rising at a way faster speed than any time since the Pliocene, Willeit added. The pre-industrial levels at that time have never been exceeded by more than 2°C while the temperatures during our period is shown by current models to rise by 4°C between 2000 and 2100 if we do not bring awareness to this cause and do not do anything about the emissions that can leave us without breathable air.
According to Willeit, the earth is being pushed by rising CO2 level beyond climatic conditions that humans have ever experienced since their presence on the planet.