How Many Gigatons Of Carbon Dioxide?

How many gigatons of carbon dioxide have we released? How much more can we safely release? How much is left to release? How much time before we break our "carbon budget"? How much warming will result in different amounts of carbon dioxide? These are all very data-heavy questions, and perhaps most of us do not have the requisite knowledge to contextualize the answers. Fortunately, infographics can help us understand things more visually. 

This infographic is a wonderful tool for visualizing the answers to those questions. Colorful blocks of proportional sizes depict different volumes of carbon dioxide (how much we have released, how much more is "safe", and how much is left to release), and a handy chart of what will happen in each scenario of warming is shown below. Between 1850 and 2015, we have released 1,510 gigatons of carbon, with almost half of that in the last 15 years. We only have 335 gigatons left, or around eight years, before we break our "carbon budget" or release all we deem is "safe" to release. Diagrams depicting how much warming has already happened, what will inevitably happen, and what could happen are paired with potential impacts, like sea level rise, changes in precipitation, species at risk, etc. The authors and designers have even included a very detailed spreadsheet of their sources and calculations, in case you are curious about the raw info. 

For those visual learners looking to better understand our global carbon budget, this graphic can be very useful, not to mention quite pretty.