Politics and Human Rights.

In an interview with ITV's deputy political editor,  Anushka Asthana, published in The Guardian on Saturday 13th January 2024, in answer to her question about redistribution of income and wealth from the rich to the poor, Sir Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Labour Party, had this to say: 'No, that isn't how I want to grow the economy. I don't think redistribution is the sort of one-word answer for millions of people across the country... I'm afraid if it's just redistribution, I think that fundamentally disrespects people.' Redistribution has, of course, nothing to do with growing the economy, and no-one is arguing for absolute equality, merely - but vitally - for greatly reduced inequality , so the 'dignity and respect due to skilled work' he referred to is an irrelevance, particularly as many of the super-rich derive their wealth and income, not from work, skilled or otherwise, but from interest and rents. Starmer is - once again - displaying his ...

Today is Tuesday 9th January 2024. According to the Global Monitoring Laboratory of the US NOAA, Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii, the monthly average atmospheric CO2 level in December 2023 was 421.86 ppm, compared to 418.99 ppm in December 2022. This is an increase of 2.87 ppm, or ~0.685% p.a. The latest methane (CH4) figures, also from the NOAA , are for the month of September 2023, and show an average of 1,927.35 ppb (= 1.92735 ppm), compared to 1,915.44 ppb (= 1.91544 ppm) for September 2022, an increase of 11.91 ppb, or ~0.622% p.a. The World Meteorological Organisation ( WMO ) informs us that CO2 was 149% higher in 2021 than in pre-industrial times; that, from 2011 to 2020, 48% of emissions from human activities accumulated in the atmosphere, 26% in the oceans and seas, and 29% on land. From 1990 to 2021, heating impacts of long-lived greenhouse gases (LLGHGs) increased by 49%, with 80% of these impacts due to CO2. The Keeling Curve informs us that the latest atmospheric CO2 readi...

Today is Wednesday 20th December 2023. The Global Monitoring Laboratory of the US NOAA reports that atmospheric CO2 averaged 420.46 ppm in November of this year, compared to 417.47 ppm in November 2022, an increase of 2.99 ppm, or 0.716% p.a. The daily means for the past twelve days (inclusive of this one) can be found at NOAA , or here: for the 9th: 421.31 ppm; for the 10th: 421.56; the 11th: 421.66; the 12th: 421.99; the 13th: 421.78; the 14th: 421.8; the 15th: 423.38; the 16th: 423.21; the 17th: 422.67; the 18th: 422.38; the 19th: 422.03; and the 20th: 421.94. The average for those twelve days is 422.1425 ppm. The Keeling Curve's atmospheric CO2 level reading for yesterday, the 19th December, was 421.58 ppm. The difference of 0.45 ppm between that reading and the one provided by the NOAA can, perhaps, be accounted for if the two figures are translated into milligrammes per cubic metre (mg/m^3): 422.03 ppm = 817.8 mg/m^3; 421.58 ppm = 816.9 mg/m^3, a difference of just 0.9 mg/m...

Today is Thursday 30th November 2023. The NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory  (GML) recorded a CO2 level of 420.59 ppm for the 28th November, and the Keeling Curve one of 421.24 ppm for the 29th. Although still below the peak of 424.76 ppm recorded by the GML on 29th May of this year, November's average is back above 420 ppm. The NOAA's Annual Greenhouse Gas Index ( AGGI ) in 2022 was 1.49, or 523 ppm CO2equivalent. They haven't published one for this year yet, but it will be higher. The details of their calculations are here .  

Today is Tuesday 28th November 2023. CO2 emissions, measured at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii by the US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s Global Monitoring Laboratory  (GML), averaged 418.82 ppm in October, compared to 415.74 ppm in October of 2022. This was an increase of 3.08 ppm, or ~0.741% p.a. In terms of daily figures, the GML records show that, from the 15th-24th of this month, the level of atmospheric CO2 has not fallen below 420 ppm, and has not fallen below 419 ppm since the 3rd of this month. It was 418.84 ppm on the 1st, and 418.98 ppm on the 2nd. The average for the 15th-24th is 421.6 ppm, with a maximum of 422.43 ppm on the 17th and a minimum of 420.61 ppm on the 21st. The latest GML monthly figure for methane is for July of this year, which shows a figure of 1,915.25 ppb (= 1.91525 ppm), compared to 1,904.42 ppb (= 1.90442 ppm) for July 2022. This is an increase of 10.83 ppb, or ~0.57% p.a. The latest Keeling Curve figure for CO2...

Today is Monday 6th November 2023. The NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory reports that the monthly average atmospheric CO2 reading at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii during the month of September was 418.51 ppm, up from 415.91 ppm a year earlier - an increase of 2.6 ppm (0.625% p.a.). Taking the daily means of the last month, since the 6th October, reported by the NOAA, the atmospheric CO2 level has averaged 419.05 ppm. The Keeling Curve reports a CO2 reading of 419.41 ppm for the 3rd November 2023. CO2 Earth reports one of 419.89 ppm for the 4th November, up from 416.55 ppm a year earlier. This is an increase of 3.34 ppm (0.802% p.a.). The NOAA reports CO2 levels of 418.84 ppm for the 1st (my 67th birthday, incidentally), 418.98 ppm for the 2nd, 419.28 ppm for the 3rd, 419.89 ppm for the 4th and 419.35 ppm for the 5th. It is safe to predict that we will soon be back above 420 ppm of CO2 = 814 mg/m^3 =  3,277.8144 GtCO2, i.e., perilously close to the Mid-Piacenzian Warm Per...

Today is Thursday 19th October 2023. The Keeling Curve reports an atmospheric CO2 level for the 18th of 419.06 ppm, whereas CO2 Earth reports one of 419.37 ppm (same date), up from 415.65 ppm for the 18th October 2022. This is an increase of 3.72 ppm, or ~0.895% p.a. The NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory records an atmospheric CO2 level for today, 19th, at 419.47 ppm = 812.9 mg/m^3 =  3,273.678 GtCO2. The NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory also recorded atmospheric methane (CH4) levels of 1,917.11 ppb and nitrous oxide of 336.64 ppb in June 2023. These represented increases of ~0.626% and ~0.34% p.a., respectively.