The Climate Could Hit a State Unseen in 50 Million Years

No, the headline is not a typo. Current carbon dioxide levels are unprecedented in human history and are on track to climb to even more ominous heights in just a few decades.

Weekly carbon dioxide levels at Mauna Loa
Observatory are already nearing last year's peak.

If carbon emissions continue on their current trajectory, new findings show that by mid-century, the atmosphere could reach a state unseen in 50 million years. Back then, temperatures were up to 18°F (10°C) warmer, ice was almost nowhere to be seen and oceans were dramatically higher than they are now.

The implications of the research, published on Tuesday in Nature Communications, are some of the starkest reminders yet that humanity faces a major choice to curtail carbon pollution or risk pushing the climate outside the bounds that have allowed civilization to thrive.

Read Brain Kahn’s ClimateCentral story - “The Climate Could Hit a State Unseen in 50 Million Years.”