New CO2 Record Prompts a Scientist to Ask, ‘What’s It Going to Take for Us to Wake Up?’

Every year at this time, headlines proclaim that carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has climbed to record high levels. But that really shouldn’t be all that surprising, given that CO2 has risen to a new high every single year but one since direct measurements began in 1958.

Now, however, an arguably more meaningful milestone has been passed.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports that in May, the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere peaked at a level 50 percent higher than the pre-industrial average, before we humans began widespread burning of fossil fuels.

NOAA’s…