Rising carbon dioxide emissions driven by human activities could soon lead atmospheric greenhouse gas levels not seen since Earth’s last major global warming event, a shocking new study has warned. The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) was a global warming event that occurred about 56 million years ago. This lead global temperatures to spike by 5 to 8 degrees Celsius (9 to 14 degrees Fahrenheit), bringing the average as high as 23 degrees Celsius (73 degrees Fahrenheit). But, scientists say temperatures spiked globally by 5 to 8 degrees Celsius (9 to 14 degrees Fahrenheit), bringing the average as high as 23 degrees Celsius (73 degrees Fahrenheit). This means we could hit the lowest estimate of PETM carbon accumulation (3,000 gigatons) in the year 2159 – or, we could reach the maximum (7,126 gigatons) in 2278.

Source: Daily Mail February 21, 2019 17:15 UTC