The amount of carbon dioxide we have been dumping into the atmosphere rapidly grows over time. Atmospheric carbon dioxide has been measured to average about 260 ppm in the last 400 thousand years. Pre-industrial levels were approximately 280ppm, the industrial level was around 315. Today it is about 410 ppm. That is a 57.6 percent increase. Since 1901, the average surface temperature across the contiguous 48 U.S. states has increased at an average rate of 0.16°F (0.09°C) per decade. Average temperatures have grown faster since the late 1970s (0.31 to 0.54°F or 0.17 to 0.30 °Ð¡ per decade since 1979). Eight of the ten leading warmest years on record for the contiguous 48 U.S. states have happened since 1998, and 2012 and 2016 were the two warmest years in history. Since the late 1970s, the U.S. has warmed faster than worldwide. Some parts of the United States have experienced more warming than others, primarily the West, North, especially Alaska. Below is the visualization created by