Earth’s carbon dioxide levels are about hit a record 400 parts per million (ppm).
On Wednesday, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography recorded carbon dioxide levels of 399.71 ppm. That means, for every million pints of air, there is 399.71 pints of carbon dioxide.
The measurement is gathered at the Mauna Loa Observatory, part of the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Earth System Research Laboratory.
The number is widely used as evidence of the toll human activity is taking on the planet.
Called the “Keeling Curve,” it is named after Dr. Charles David Keeling, a scientist from San Diego, California, who began taking measurements of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in 1958.
His first reading was 317 ppm. Scientists have been able to collect samples of carbon dioxide levels from 800,000 years ago by gathering ice core samples from the Antarctic.
Since Dr. Keeling’s first measurement, CO2 levels have never decreased.
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