Some good news about the bad news.

[NNadir]

During the government shutdown, I really worried that the continuously collected data at the Mauna Loa CO₂ Observatory since 1959 would not be collected.

It appears from the data pages, that only one week's worth of data was lost, that of the week beginning September 28, 2025 was not collected.

However they did it, the scientists at the Observatory were able to collect data. How I don't know.

Interestingly, the lost week may have been the annual local minimum, since the data does have some statistical noise. As it stands, the local minimum took place in the week beginning September 14, 2025, when the concentration of the dangerous fossil fuel CO₂ was 423.98 ppm. This is 2.27 ppm higher than the local minimum for 2024, which took place in the week beginning September 22, 2024, when the concentration of the dangerous fossil fuel CO₂ was 421.71 ppm.

The concentrations have been rising (with one week missing) since the week beginning September 14, 2025.

The current readings:

Week beginning on November 09, 2025: 426.80 ppm
Weekly value from 1 year ago: 423.52 ppm
Weekly value from 10 years ago: 400.48 ppm
Last updated: November 16, 2025

Weekly average CO2 at Mauna Loa

The current reading, if one has not joined Greenpeace and thus can do simple calculations, is 3.28 ppm higher than week 45 one year ago.

I'm relieved that the loss of data was not more profound. Kudos to the scientists who maintained the work, despite the very real possibility that they were not being paid for doing so.

I'm working to update my spreadsheet for the data.

[surfered]

1. That's good news, but it's like a clock in the cell of a condemned prisoner

..ticking down the seconds till the time of execution.

[NNadir]

2. I have felt that way ever since I started the weekly check of the data.

The scary thing is that the rate is accelerating and the rate of the rate of acceleration (the second and third derivatives) are positive. Things are getting worse faster.

For a long time I've been bursting with technical ideas about how to do something meaningful but lacked access to any avenue to get movement.

It is too late now for nuclear energy to do what it might have done but as a consolation, I had a nice chat with my son last night about the fact that we are now entering the third nuclear era, featuring creativity not seen since the first nuclear era, which ended in the early 1960s. I'll do my best to leave him with ideas so that he can help do his part, however small or large as is practical, for future generations sifting through the ashes to rebuild what is subject to rebuilding, if anything is or will be.

We live in horrible times, and aren't even paying attention to the things that really matter.