The Earth just reached a CO2 level not seen in 3 million years

Some records aren’t meant to be broken — but when it comes to climate change, humans still haven’t gotten the memo.

Last fall, the Earth passed a major climate milestone when measurements taken at Hawaii’s Mauna Loa Observatory showed that atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide had passed — potentially permanently — 400 parts per million.

This week, measurements taken from the same observatory show that yet another marker has been passed: Carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere, for the first time in modern record-keeping, has surpassed 410 parts per million.

Since measurements began in the 1950s at Mauna Loa, atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide have increased 42 percent from pre-industrial levels. Children born today will likely never live in a world with levels below 400 parts per million.

The program at Mauna Loa is run jointly by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) and the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, which means that the program is vulnerable, at least in part, to the whims of federal funding. Trump’s proposed budget cuts much of NOAA’s research funding and cuts almost all domestic climate research funding.

Trump’s director of Office of Management and Budget, Mick Mulvaney, has said that the administration considers climate spending “to be a waste of your money.” The Department of Energy, under the Trump administration, has also suggested that it could refocus its mission on nuclear and fossil fuels.

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