Amount of warming triggering carbon dioxide in air hits new peak, growing at near-record fast rate

By SETH BORENSTEIN
AP Science Writer

The cause of global warming is showing no signs of slowing as heat-trapping carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere has increased to record highs in its annual Spring peak. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations says carbon dioxide levels in the air are jumping at one of the fastest rates on record. Those levels are now the highest they’ve been in more than 4 million years. The last time the air had similar amounts was during a less hospitable hothouse Earth before human civilization. Levels for May, which is when carbon dioxide most saturates the air before plants suck it up, are at 424 parts per million.