THE BLOOMBERG CARBON CLOCK

Carbon dioxide pollution is the primary reason the Earth is warming. The number you will see is the estimates the level of CO2 in the Earth’s atmosphere right now, based on monthly averages. CO2 is measured in parts per million, a tiny increment with huge effects. If you take any given volume in the atmosphere and divide it into a million parts a certain number of those parts will be carbon dioxide.

When the U.S. started measuring CO2 in the air, in 1958, it stood at 316ppm. The higher the number climbs over time, the greater the risks of climate change.