Global carbon dioxide levels are higher than they’ve been in 3 million years
Carbon dioxide, the gas mainly responsible for global warming, has reached levels on earth not seen in 3 million years. Scientists used computer simulations of our planet’s past and compared them to data from the deep sea. The findings showed that the last time carbon dioxide on Earth was so elevated the sea level was 65 feet higher and trees grew on Antarctica. Today’s CO2 levels are 410 parts per million. Scientists note that even trace amounts in the atmosphere raise global temperatures and that the levels cannot be explained by natural factors. All of the world’s nations, except the United States, have joined the Paris climate agreement with the goal of lowering carbon dioxide emissions and stopping the rise in global temperature.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wants to move California condors into the Pacific Northwest
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed to establish an experimental population of the California condor in the Pacific Northwest. Data shows that reintroduction of the California condor into northern regions is biologically feasible and will help to conserve the species. The California condor is the largest land bird in North America and can live up to 60 years. When humans began settling the Americas, California condors lived throughout much of the continent but by 1987 the bird was listed as extinct in the wild due to poaching, habitat destruction and lead poisoning. Numbers grew through captive breeding programs and in 1991 the birds were reintroduced back into the wild. They remain one of the world’s most rare birds. As of 2017 there were 463 total living California condors.
