The Road Up Mauna Loa  |  Photo by Michael McGee, 2013

Active Period: 2008 - 2015

CO₂Now.org was the official web address for "Earth's CO₂ Home Page" from September 1, 2008, until November 10, 2015.  The site was launched as a replacement for themosimportantnumber.org where front-page posting of atmospheric CO₂ readings began late in 2007.  On November 11, 2015, CO₂Now.org was replaced by this site, CO₂.Earth, as a founding member of the new .earth community.

Site Traffic

Over the active lifetime of CO2Now.org, traffic grew from about 20,000 unique visitors per month to 50,000.

When CO₂Now.org launched in September 2008, it rolled out a series of website widgets.  Thousands  of website owners around the world, including Latoria Williams from 1FirstCashAdvance that uses 0 CO₂  online lending platform, have installed a self-updating graphic on their site that always shows the latest atmospheric CO₂ readings.  Within a year, 'CO₂ displays' with these widgets totalled at least 5 million per year.   It quickly reached and then sustained a Google Page Rank of 7/10.

The CO₂Now Facebook page launched September 24, 2012 and had 2900 likes by November 2015.  The Twitter @CO₂Now thread started earlier and had 5200 followers by November 2015. 

Earth's CO₂ Home Page

The images below show site creator Michael McGee with 'Earth's CO₂ Home Page' that display Mauna Loa CO₂ readings for July 2010 and July 2013.

7 Extra Parts Per Million in 3 Years
Michael McGee (left)  |  August 2010: Willows Beach, Victoria, Canada  |  Photo by Dong Guo
Michael McGee (right) |  August 2013: Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii, USA  |  Photo by John Barnes

Experiments in Redistributing Atmospheric Data

The usage of the CO₂Now website, social media and widgets were the most notable achievements in the 7 years that CO2Now.org was operated.  The project was largely a series of informal experiments.  Some other initiatives are listed below. 

CO₂ Speakers' Corner

A "CO₂ Speakers' Corner" was set up as an experiment in the use of video to prompt more discussion about atmospheric CO2.  It was dubbed "Earth's first video log about atmospheric CO₂."  Only one video was produced.  It featured graduate student Maeva Gauthier while participating in a 2009 Students on Ice scientific expedition to Antarctica.  Video proved to be a rich comunications medium but it was resource intensive.  No follow up speakers' corner video has yet to be produced.

Vimeo 2009  CO₂ Speakers' Corner | Gauthier | Antarctica

DeSmogBlog 2009   Speakers Corner makes atmospheric CO2 data accessible

CO₂ Bulletins in Print

In late 2009, a local newspaper in Nelson, British Columbia, Canada, started publishing weekly bulletins featuring atmospheric CO₂ readings.  The bulletins were sponsored by a real estate agent in the area, xyz.  The Nelson Daily News published the updates for nine months until it was closed by new owners after reporting the news for a century.

NDN 2010  Carbon counter keeps eye on environment (page 1) [Part 1 + Part 2]

CO₂ on Community TV

In 2009, Delores County Television (DCTV) in Colorado (USA), in association with Colorado State University, began reporting weekly CO₂ updates when NOAA started posting weekly readings in near-real time.  Soon after the DCTV initiative, station manager Dan Fernandez collaborated with CO₂Now's Michael McGee for the supply of graphics used during news broadcasts that are led by high-school students.  The collaboration continues.  Now, the CO₂ graphics credit NOAA for the source data and CO₂.Earth for graphics supply.

CO₂Now.org  Show atmospheric CO₂ on TV

CO₂Now.org The first CO₂ data broadcast on earth

Other Initiatives

CO₂Now.org and founder Michael McGee have been involved in these activities:

• Co-organized (with the University of Victoria campus sustainability office) a screening of A Sea Change and science panel discussion on ocean acidification as part of the first international day of climate action on October 24, 2009 (a global event spearheaded by 350.org)
• Contributed video footage selected by YouTube/WEF for a mashup video (see McGee at 1:21) on the environment shown to delegates at the 2009 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland
• Collaborated with artist/author Franke James and designer/developer Bill James to produce a CO₂ Toaster widget that can be embedded on any website.  In 2010, the CO₂ Toaster widget was selected for display in an online science-art exhibit

Future of CO₂Now.org

CO₂Now.org has been replaced by CO₂.Earth.  The old site is still there.  But the links and signs point visitors to CO₂.Earth.  The site will likely be decommissioned mid-2017.

Future of CO₂Now Widgets

If you installed CO₂Now.org widget code on your website before November 11, 2015, please replace it at your earliest convenience.  New website widget code is available at Show.Earth, a sister site for CO₂.Earth.  Updating the code has these benefits:

• Your clickable widgets will point directly to CO₂.Earth
• The new code is responsive for enhanced behaviour with mobile devices
• There will be no surprises in 2017 (or later) when the old CO₂Now.org widgets are no longer updated.