Pope Francis Believes Global Warming Is "Mostly Man Made"
Global Warming Deniers Are Full Of It. Here Comes The Enema!
2014 proves hottest year on record, driven in part by climate change
It's official: 2014 was the hottest year ever.
ByCBS NEWS January 16, 2015
It's official: 2014 was the hottest year ever.
Two separate analyses by NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found that temperatures across the globe last year were the warmest since 1880. The 10 warmest years, with the exception of 1998, have occurred since 2000.
"This is the latest in a series of warm years, in a series of warm decades," said Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA's Goddard Institute of Space Studies. "While the ranking of individual years can be affected by chaotic weather patterns, the long-term trends are attributable to drivers of climate change that right now are dominated by human emissions of greenhouse gases."
During 2014, the average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces was 1.24 degrees Fahrenheit (0.69 degrees Celsius) above the 20th century average. This was the highest among all 135 years in the 1880-2014 record, surpassing the previous records of 2005 and 2010 by 0.07 degrees F (0.04 degrees C).
Temperature records were hit across the globe, from far eastern Russia to Australia, across the western United States and much of Europe.
The rising temperatures are part of a long term trend that goes back decades and is driven to a large degree by the burning of coal, oil and gas which traps heats, changing the climate.
Since 1880, Earth's average surface temperature has warmed by about 1.4 degrees F (0.8 degrees C). The majority of that warming has occurred in the past three decades.
The dire temperature news is expected to put further pressure on world leaders to come with an international agreement to combat climate change when they meet in Paris later this year.
The goal of any agreement would be to keep global temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees C over what they were in preindustrial times, which most scientists contend would avert the worst impacts of climate change, such as widespread droughts, heat waves and flooding.
But to achieve that, the world will have to dramatically shift away from its heavy reliance on fossil fuels. To have a 50 percent chance of achieving the temperature goals the world would have to keep 82 percent of coal reserves, half of the gas reserves and a third of oil in the ground.
It isn't all that much of a surprise that temperatures reached a milestone, since several months in 2014 hit global heat records including December, October, September, August, June and May. April 2014 was the second hottest on record. January, March and July were fourth. February was the 21st warmest.
The United States didn't hit a record in 2014, though it was above the 20th century average for the 18th year in a row. The nation saw stark regional differences over the year: Parts of the Midwest and East Coast were unusually cool, while Alaska and three western states - California, Arizona and Nevada - experienced their warmest year on record, according to NOAA.
(Cont...)
A revealing aside...
Decades ago, I met a San Franciscan who -- convinced he could fly -- jumped off the upper deck of the Bay Bridge and was blown back on the lower deck where he snapped his spinal cord, leaving him paraplegic.
Decades ago, I met a San Franciscan who -- convinced he could fly -- jumped off the upper deck of the Bay Bridge and was blown back on the lower deck where he snapped his spinal cord, leaving him paraplegic.
Self-arrogation of the "right" to manipulate epistemological outcomes according to pre-existing beliefs is as dangerous as leaping from the upper deck.
Truth is what it is.
We discover it.
We do not invent Truth or "tailor" it to our liking.
"The Death of Epistemology"
"The Rules" are "The Rules."
And "Exceptions to Rules" are "Exceptions to Rules" - statistical outliers void of scientific significance.
It is benighted (as only The Prince of Darkness can be) to believe -- and, even worse, to preach/promote -- that "Exceptions to Rules" are grounds for "New Rules" or reason to disregard old ones.
The Guardian: John Olivers' Viral Video Is The Best Climate Debate You'll Ever See
Stewart, Colbert, Oliver Probe The Spectacular Idiocy Of Climate Change Deniers
Take for example the conservative chestnut that 1934 was an exceptionally hot year in the United States.
Yes, it was.
However, that year's anomalous heat is not an argument against the massive (and growing) body of evidence that demonstrate the reality of global warming and, more specifically, anthropogenic global warming.
"1934 Is The Hottest Year On Record." What Science Says Vs. Dodgy Lies
Global Warming Deniers Are Full Of It. Here Comes The Enema!
Consider Christian conservatism's twin objections to global warming.
On one hand it is believed that God -- as a function of his "meta-level oversight" -- would "take out the garbage" for us so that we humans needn't bother de-toxifying our waste.
On the other hand, once "we" determine that humans are responsible for "taking out the garbage," immediately there is inexorable need for collective, political action to undertake "de-toxification," a fact that contradicts the primary conservative Christian belief in Individual Conscience as "supreme and inviolable." And so conservative Christianity refuses countenance any appeal to moral mandate under aegis of collective decision-making.
Pope Francis: Moving The Moral Compass From "The Individual" Toward "The Collective"
Pro-Science Pontiff: Pope Francis On Climate Change, Evolution And The Big Bang
Pope Francis: What Christianity Looks Like When Believers Realize "God Is Love"
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