This just in from NASA, the first six months of 2010 were the "hottest half-year on record" and the second half is expected to follow suit.
Now we know that we keep telling you Denialists that a cold spell every now and then doesn't determine the reality of global warming driven climate change. A cold spell is weather. It's a spell, not a climate defining multi-year trend line. So one record hot year, this one if you like, isn't conclusive proof of global warming either.
This year is, however, one more piece of a clear and compelling climate trend line. This EPA report chronicles a whole host of climate change indicators that corroborate the inarguable impacts of global warming on the United States. Denialists, you're just going to have to suck on that. Sorry.
And then there's this cheery note from The New Republic:
What can we expect going forward? Here's one clue: A recent study by Stanford climate modelers suggested that extreme heat waves—similar to what the Northeast endured last week—will become increasingly frequent in the United States over the next 30 years. That's bad news for agriculture (not to mention people who hate sweating). But what caught my eye about the Stanford study is that even if we do take drastic action to cut emissions, we've already warmed up the planet enough to cause serious increases in heat waves in the near future (see below for what we can expect even if we hit that ambitious 2°C target). It's going to be hard to dodge the heat. The only real question left is how much hotter we're going to make it.
Now we know that we keep telling you Denialists that a cold spell every now and then doesn't determine the reality of global warming driven climate change. A cold spell is weather. It's a spell, not a climate defining multi-year trend line. So one record hot year, this one if you like, isn't conclusive proof of global warming either.
This year is, however, one more piece of a clear and compelling climate trend line. This EPA report chronicles a whole host of climate change indicators that corroborate the inarguable impacts of global warming on the United States. Denialists, you're just going to have to suck on that. Sorry.
And then there's this cheery note from The New Republic:
What can we expect going forward? Here's one clue: A recent study by Stanford climate modelers suggested that extreme heat waves—similar to what the Northeast endured last week—will become increasingly frequent in the United States over the next 30 years. That's bad news for agriculture (not to mention people who hate sweating). But what caught my eye about the Stanford study is that even if we do take drastic action to cut emissions, we've already warmed up the planet enough to cause serious increases in heat waves in the near future (see below for what we can expect even if we hit that ambitious 2°C target). It's going to be hard to dodge the heat. The only real question left is how much hotter we're going to make it.
2 comments:
I think Harper is still weak on this issue. He was one of the global warming deniers and set back our countries efforts. His denial helps show how this guy is out of touch with reality and bent on a partisan approach to policy rather than pragmatic approach to policy that is in the best interest of Canadians. It won't be a trump card we can play against him, but its one of those issues that pile upon others that helps frame who Harper is.
Post a Comment