(http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/121120-greenhousegases-3a.photoblog600.jpg)Charlie Riedel / AP, fileA flock of geese fly past a smokestack at the Jeffery Energy Center coal power plant near Emmitt, Kansas, in this Jan. 10, 2009 photo.By Ian Johnston, NBC NewsGreenhouse gases reached a new record level in 2011, the World Meteorological Organization said Tuesday.
The body, an agency of the United Nations, said in a statement (http://www.wmo.int/pages/mediacentre/press_releases/pr_965_en.html) that there had been a 30 percent increase in the warming effect on the climate between 1990 and 2011.
Follow @NBCNewsWorld (http://twitter.com/NBCNewsWorld) It said the level of carbon dioxide – which accounts for about 80 percent of the warming effect – and other so-called greenhouse gases such as methane and nitrous oxide had reached the carbon dioxide-equivalent of 473 parts per million in 2011.
The three gases are closely linked to human activities such as fossil fuel use, deforestation and intensive agriculture.
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