The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has surpassed levels that have not been observed in millions of years, including the time when Earth was a heated planet of ocean inundation, federal science experts said on Friday. 

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) stated that its monitoring facility located in Hawaii’s Mauna Loa, averaged 421 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the air during the month of May, a time when the gas is at its annual extreme. 

The number is a massive spike compared to the pre-industrial revolution era when scientists recorded the greenhouse gas’ levels at 280 parts per million.

According to the New York Post, federal scientists have said that carbon dioxide levels continue to escalate, with this year’s figure being almost 1.9 ppm higher than a year ago, which is a slight uptick from 2020-2021.

“The world is trying to reduce emissions, and you just don’t see it. In other words, if you’re measuring the atmosphere, you’re not seeing anything happening right now in terms of change,” said Pieter Tans, a climate scientist for NOAA who is responsible for keeping a track of greenhouse gas emissions across the globe for the agency.

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Scientific experts that are not associated with the agency also chimed in, stating that the numbers represent a serious climate change issue. 

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“Humanity has to make more serious efforts and see a rapid decrease in greenhouse gas emissions, or else the impacts of climate change will only continue to worsen,” said the University of Michigan’s dean of environment, Jonathan Overpeck. 

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On the other hand, Donald Wuebbles, a climate scientist at the University of Illinois, said that without attempts to reduce carbon pollution, the world will “see ever more damaging levels of climate change, more heat waves, more flooding, more droughts, more large storms and higher sea levels.”