Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Climate Change: Yep, Still Terrifying

Tis the season for climate change concern. Between floods in Australia that were caused by temperature-dependent tropical storms, and the repeated blizzards that shut down significant portions of the United States over the last few weeks (strangely, warmer winters tend to have more snow), the tangible impacts of a warming planet are starting to feel a little more tangible.

On the scientific side, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced today that 2010 was tied with 2005 as the warmest year since scientists started keeping sufficient records of global temperatures. At 58.12°F, 2010 was 1.12°F over the 20th century average; but the Northern Hemisphere's 58.31°F average temperature make 2010 its warmest year ever, 1.31°F above the 20th century average.

To put this in context, the ten warmest years on record are 2010, 2005, 1998, 2003, 2002, 2009, 2006, 2007, 2004, and 2001. So with the exception of 2008, all ten of civilization's hottest years are within the last ten years.

Dunno about y'all, but I find that last sentence to be fucking terrifying.

9 comments:

  1. Yeah I'd say that's pretty terrifying. Add the aflockalypse to that, too.

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  2. Washington Times Editorial last year: But it's cold now and snowing, so they're can't be global warming!!!"

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  3. so what are you gonna do about it other than complain that no one is listening?

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  4. from NASA:
    http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2010-warmest-year.html

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  5. @sociosound: word, good point! That is another terrifying aspect.

    @JJ: Relatedly, if that pinko Kennedy had just listened to the Times in the first place and nuked Cuba, then we wouldn't have to worry about "global warming."

    @Anonymous:

    Ha! Well, I thought about ending this post by telling y'all to eliminate meat from your diet, put solar panels on any property you own (and buy the rest of your electricity from sources that are at least supposedly renewable), and either use a bike & public transportation or a high-gas-mileage car...

    But really, so much of global warming is caused by heavy industry and product transportation that almost no one in the residential sector can have any impact at all, so there's no point in guilt-tripping anyone you know unless they're already on board with the idea of choosing to make what difference they can. Or unless they have several billion dollars to invest and can use it to pass shareholder resolutions that limit emissions, in which case, well, they maybe could do that. For the rest of us, we've just got to keep the pressure on the government... by... complaining that no one is listening... VOTE DEMOCRAT!

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  6. lol yeah sure let's vote democrat, that surely help [problem name here]

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  7. Man, how far away is punctuation you can use to indicate sarcasm on the internet?

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  8. maybe if we're lucky we can vote in a huge wave of democrats in 2012, who can then use their awesome powers to... i dont know, hang out... do nothing, get wrecked by republicans... can't hardly wait

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  9. Sarcasm punctuation would be really sweet.

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