Politics and Human Rights.

Today is Saturday 30th September, the last day of this month. CO2 Earth reports an atmospheric CO2 level of 418.3 ppm for the 29th, up from 415.79 ppm for the 29th September 2022, an increase of 2.51 ppm, or 0.604% p.a. The Keeling Curve has a reading for the 27th of 417.56 ppm. The NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory, on the other hand, gives readings for the 28th of 418.2 ppm, 29th of 418.3 ppm, and 30th of 418.22 ppm. 418.22 ppm = 810.4 mg/m^3 =  3,263.923 GtCO2.

Today is Friday 29th September 2023. CO2 Earth records an atmospheric CO2 level of 418.2 ppm = 810.4 mg/m^3 = 3,263.767 GtCO2 for the 28th, up from 415.38 ppm on the 28th September 2022. This is an increase of 2.82 ppm = 0.68% p.a. The Keeling Curve's reading is for the 27th September, and is 418 ppm. The NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory records an atmospheric CO2 level (NB, these are mole fractions in dry air) of 418.2 ppm for the 28th & 418.36 ppm for today, the 29th. 418.36 ppm = 810.7 mg/m^3 =  3,265.015 GtCO2.

Today is Thursday 28th September 2023. The Keeling Curve reports an atmospheric CO2 level of 418.06 ppm = 810.1 mg/m^3 = 3,262.674 GtCO2 for the 27th. The NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory recorded an atmospheric CO2 level of 418.65 ppm on the 26th, and 418.27 ppm on the 27th. 418.27 ppm = 810.5 mg/m^3 = 3,264.313 GtCO2.

Today is Wednesday 27th September 2023. CO2 Earth recorded an atmospheric CO2 level of 418.65 ppm = 811.3 mg/m^3 for the 26th. This is 3.29 ppm above that recorded for the 26th September 2022, 415.36 ppm (804.9 mg/m^3), or 0.792% p.a. The Keeling Curve recorded an atmospheric CO2 level of 417.98 ppm for the 26th. This is 810 mg/m^3 = 3,262.05 GtCO2 (billion tonnes of CO2). The NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory recorded atmospheric CO2 levels of 418.65 ppm for the 26th (811.3 mg/^3) and 418.27 ppm (810.5 mg/m^3) for today, the 27th, respectively.

Today is Tuesday 26th September 2023. CO2 Earth reports an atmospheric CO2 level for the 25th of 418.21 ppm, up from 415.7 ppm on the 25th September 2022, an increase of 2.51 ppm, or 0.604% p.a. The Keeling Curve reports a figure of 417.98 ppm for the 26th September 2023, and the NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory at the Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii reports atmospheric CO2 levels of 418.01 ppm for the 24th, 418.21 ppm for the 25th and 418.64 ppm for the 26th, respectively. 418.64 ppm = 811.2 mg/m^3 =  3,267.2 GtCO2.

Today is Monday 25th September 2023. There is no atmospheric CO2 reading available for the 23rd from CO2 Earth , but one of 418.01 ppm for the 24th, up from 414.6 ppm for 24th September 2022. This is an increase of 3.41 ppm = 0.82% p.a. The Keeling Curve reading remains 417.36 ppm for the 22nd September. NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory gives 417.88 ppm for the 22nd and 417.93 ppm for the 24th. 417.93 ppm = 809.9 mg/m^3 =  3,261.659 GtCO2.

Today is Sunday 24th September 2023. CO2 Earth's atmospheric CO2 level reading is still 417.88 ppm for the 22nd September. The Keeling Curve's reading also remains unchanged at 417.36 ppm, and is also for the 22nd September. In future, my climate reports won't be published on Sundays. 

Today is Saturday 23rd September 2023, the Autumnal Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere/Spring Equinox in the Southern Hemisphere. CO2 Earth registered an atmospheric CO2 level of 417.88 ppm for yesterday, the 22nd, up from 414.73 ppm on the 22nd September 2022, an increase of 3.15 ppm, or ~0.76% p.a. The Keeling Curve registered a reading, for the same date, 22nd September, of 417.36 ppm = 808.8 mg/m^3 =  3,257.211 GtCO2. The Guardian  newspaper for today (23rd September) reported that only 22% of people in this country trusted the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, to tackle the climate crisis after his 'U-turn' on net-zero policies. It is surprising the figure is as high as that. The percentage of 'don't knows' was 19%. It is clear the Prime Minister is mistaken if he believes his change in policy will win votes for the Conservatives in the forthcoming General Election. This is clear to many Conservatives: The Guardian (same day)   also reports heavy criticism of Mr

Today is Friday 22nd September 2023. CO2 Earth reports an atmospheric CO2 level for the 21st September of 417.6 ppm, up from 416.31 ppm on the 21st September 2022, an increase of 1.29 ppm, or ~0.31% p.a. The Keeling Curve reports an atmospheric CO2 level for the 21st September of 417.32 ppm = 808.7 mg/m^3 = ~3,256.9 GtCO2.

Today is Thursday 21st September 2023. The atmospheric CO2 level for yesterday, the 20th, was 418.58 ppm, according to CO2 Earth , up from 416.32 ppm on 20th September 2022 - an increase of 2.26 ppm, or 0.543% p.a. 418.58 ppm = 811.1 mg/m^3 =  3,266.732 GtCO2, and is 2.42 ppm below the maximum CO2 level recorded for the KM5c marine isotope stage (3.205 Mya) of the Mid-Piacenzian Warm Period (MPWP) of the Pliocene Epoch, when global warming above the pre-industrial (1750) level was ~3 °C.

Today is Wednesday 20th September 2023. The Autumnal Equinox is on the 23rd. The atmospheric CO2 level was 418.86 ppm on the 19th, according to CO2 earth , up from 416.19 ppm on the 19th September 2022, an increase of 2.67 ppm = 0.64% p.a. The Keeling Curve has a reading of 418.55 ppm for the 19th September 2023. 418.55 ppm = 811.1 mg/m^3 = 3,266.5 GtCO2. 418.86 ppm = 811.7 mg/m^3 =  3,268.9 GtCO2.

Today is Tuesday 19th September 2023. The latest atmospheric CO2 reading, from the Keeling Curve  (today's date), is 418.54 ppm = 811.1 mg/m^3 =  3,266.42 GtCO2. This is 2.46 ppm below the maximum atmospheric CO2 level (421 ppm) of the KM5c marine isotope stage (~3.205 Mya = million years ago) of the Mid-Piacenzian Warm Period (MPWP, 3.3-3 Mya) of the Pliocene Epoch (5.3-2.588 Mya), which had a similar Earth orbital configuration to the present, but had global warming of ~3 °C above the pre-industrial level, and sea-levels ~20 m higher than today   (see de la Vega  et al , 2020 ).

Today is Monday 18th September 2023. The latest atmospheric CO2 level reading is unchanged at 418.5 ppm from yesterday, see Keeling Curve for 18th September. The figure for August 2023 remains 419.68 ppm .

Today is Sunday 17th September 2023. The latest atmospheric CO2 reading from the Keeling Curve is for the 15th September, and is 418.5 ppm . This is is 811 mg/m^3 = 3,266.108 GtCO2, and corresponds to global warming of  1.227 °C above the 1750 pre-industrial norm (1750; atmospheric CO2 level = 278 ppm), given ECS (equilibrium climate sensitivity of 3 °C.

Today is Saturday 16th September 2023. The Keeling Curve records an atmospheric CO2 level for the 15th September of 418.16 ppm = 810.3 mg/m^3 =  3,263.454 GtCO2. Given an equilibrium climate sensitivity (ECS) of 3 °C, 418.16 ppm of CO2 yields global warming above the 1750 pre-industrial level (CO2 = 278 ppm) of  1.224729 °C.

Today is Friday 15th September 2023. Deutsche Welle  was the sole mainstream news outlet to report that Fridays for Future was holding climate protests in dozens of countries and hundreds of cities all over the world, including Berlin, Hamburg and Munich in Germany, Quezon City in the Philippines and Jakarta, Indonesia. Greta Thunberg founded the movement in 2018, but no-one, it seems, is taking any notice. Thousands of children taking a day off school to protest about something that will kill them just isn't 'newsworthy'. The only other reporting of the Global Climate Strike of 15th-17th September was in Euronews Green . This claimed that ' climate strikes bring slow but sure change', which is risibly absurd, given that in the last five years atmospheric CO2 has increased from 408.72 ppm  to its present level. The Keeling Curve reports an atmospheric CO2 level for the 14th September 2023 of 418.16 ppm = 810.3 mg/m^3 =  3,263.454 GtCO2. This is an increase of 9.44

Today is Thursday 14th September 2023. The atmospheric CO2 level for 13th September 2023 was 418.69 ppm = 811.3 mg/m^3 = 3,267.591 GtCO2, an increase of 0.603% p.a. over 13th September 2022 (416.18 ppm). The Keeling Curve has a reading for the 13th September of 418.17 ppm = 810.3 mg/m^3 = 3,263.532 GtCO2. The average of the two readings is 418.43 ppm. Given an equilibrium climate sensitivity of 3 °C, that yields global warming, since the year 1750 (pre-Industrial Revolution, when atmospheric CO2 was at 278 ppm), of 1.226665 °C. The equation employed is 3 °C   × logn(418.43/278).

Salman Rushdie (b.1947), the Anglo-Indian novelist, famously the subject of a homicidal fatwa  issued by the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini following the publication of his fourth novel,  The Satanic Verses (1988), has spoken out against what he terms ' populist authoritarian demagoguery' on a global scale at the National First Amendment Summit in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday 13th September 2023, held by PEN America. Rushdie was asked what the greatest threat to freedom of speech was today, and replied: ' I think now we're facing another old enemy, which is authoritarianism. I think there's a real rise in authoritarian movements around the world.' Rushdie is, if anything, somewhat late in identifying this trend, which has been going on for quite some time, and which persecuted minorities, such as members of the LGBTIQ community worldwide, could have told him about some time ago. Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality law is only the most egregious exam

Today is Wednesday 13th September 2023. The latest atmospheric CO2 reading, as of 12th September, yesterday, is 418.4 ppm . The reading for August 2023 remains 419.68 ppm , which compares with 417.15 ppm for August 2022, an increase of 0.606% p.a. The reading for June 2023 was 423.68 ppm, and that for July 2023 was 422.14 ppm. The latest figure for atmospheric methane (CH4) is for May 2023, which was 1,922.26 ppb = 1.92226 ppm, compared to 1,907.8 ppb = 1.9078 ppm in May 2022, an increase of 0.7579% p.a. The corresponding figure for atmospheric nitrous oxide  (N2O) is also for May 2023, and was 336.63 ppb, compared to 335.48 ppb for May 2022, an increase of 0.343% p.a. Sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) is also present in the atmosphere: in May 2023, the level was 11.36 ppt, compared to 10.99 ppt in May 2022, an increase of 3.366% p.a. This is a very large increase - the largest annual increase of all the greenhouse gases - but the amount involved is so small it is difficult to know how ser

This is the first of my daily reports on climate. Today is Tuesday 12th September 2023, and the atmospheric CO2 level for August of this year was 419.68 ppm = 813.3 mg/m^3 =  3,275.317 GtCO2 (billion tonnes of CO2). The Keeling Curve recorded an atmospheric CO2 level of 418.4 ppm on the 7th September. This level of CO2 corresponds to  1.2356 °C of global warming over the 1750 pre-industrial Holocene norm, given an equilibrium climate sensitivity of 3 °C. This does not take account of any other greenhouse gases. Copernicus claims that global warming reached 1.23 °C in August 2023. In fact, by their own account, as can be seen from the graph on their website, it reached 1.52°C, above the 2015 Paris Agreement target of 1.5°C. The difference can be accounted for by other greenhouse gases, such as methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O).

The former Conservative MP for the seat, Nadine Dorries, having finally resigned from the House of Commons on the 29th August - despite originally announcing her resignation on the 9th June - the by-election in the constituency of Mid-Bedfordshire will now take place on Thursday 19th October 2023. The candidates are: Festus Akinbusoye (Conservative); Alistair Strathern (Labour); Emma Holland-Lindsay (Liberal Democrats); Cade Sibley (Green); Dave Holland (Reform UK); Alan Victor (True and Fair Party); and Gareth Mackey (Independent). The constituency has been held by the Conservatives since 1929. At the last General Election in December 2019, the turnout in Mid-Bedfordshire was 73.7% out of an electorate of 87,795. Dorries won 38,692 votes, 59.8% of the vote, giving her a majority of 24,664 votes over the then Labour candidate, who got 14,028 votes (21.7%), while the Liberal Democrat candidate got 8,171 votes (12.6%). The constituency is large and rural. The average age is 50; average e