(Sometimes a few words on a list can explain a lot. Here, reprinted with permission from the Environmental Defense Fund, is a list that captures the profound and reverberating effects of climate change .)
Here are 10 startling facts we learned in 2009 that underscore the climate threat:
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A study published in the journal Science reports that the current level of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere – about 390 parts per million – is higher today than at any time in measurable history — at least the last 2.1 million years. Previous peaks of CO2 were never more than 300 ppm over the past 800,000 years, and the concentration is rising by around 2 ppm each year.
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