Print this post.By Brad Johnson | ThinkProgress
AS GLOBAL WARMING from unlimited fossil fuel burning accelerates, the Arctic is beingradically transformed. This winter saw large regions of Canada and Greenland about 10°C (about 15-20°F) above the historical average. Temperatures in eastern Canada in the dead of winter were a staggering 21°C (37.8°F) above average.
The extreme Arctic warming iswreaking havoc with the polar ecosystems and is linked to the catastrophic snowstorms that pummeled the United States. In a summary of how global climate change is becoming observable to people in their daily lives, NASA scientist James Hansen was forced to redraw his global map with hot pink:
The temperature anomaly in the Arctic — the amount that current temperatures differ from historical norms — is now so severe that NASA’s James Hansen had to add a new color to his charts in order to accurately depict it: Hot pink.
SELECT COMMENT THREAD
“One sure bet is that this decade will be the warmest in history,” Hansen writes in his survey.
(HT Climate Sight)
I’m conversant enough in math and science that I don’t need to be spoon-fed conclusions. I’m perfectly capable of reading raw data and reaching my own. Here are some facts that are beyond dispute:
1. Average global temperature is rising at an alarming rate.
2. CO2 and other greenhouse gases are rising at an alarming rate and currently exceed the levels for, at the very least, 150,000 years.
3. These temperature and greenhouse gas anomalies are in direct proportion to each other and measured human emissions.
One should also consider such things as changes in the ocean, changes in precipitation patterns, the movement of invasive species into ranges where they could not previously survive, and the change in migration patterns but those tend to be a bit harder to quantify.
One needn’t make predictions or run computer simulations to grasp the significance. These facts are based on the widest possible sample with the most accurate instrumentation available. It’s as simple as reading a gauge.
The fact that these changes are occurring as they were predicted for about 30 years tends to add weight to current predictions. In fact, in many cases, the older predictions were too optimistic.
One certainly can and should debate what, if anything, we humans can do about these things but trying to pass off direct observations as “hoax” or “myth” is sheer idiocy. The fact that every single person making these claims about “hoaxes” and “myths” has a political, religious, or financial motive for their claims makes them bigger idiots.
Therein lies the problem. Republiscum and Teabaggers don’t read gauges. They depend upon Talking Head bloviators who never even completed college to not read gauges for them and tell them that everything is fine and they can continue to drive their Hummers, Suburbans, Navigators, Expeditions, Snowmobiles, and power boats.