Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Hottest March and Hottest Jan-Feb-Mar on Record

Meanwhile, here on Planet Reality, the world continues to burn because of our addictions to fossil fuels and reckless consumption:

It was the hottest March in both satellite records (UAH and RSS), and tied for the hottest March on record in the NASA dataset. It was the hottest (or tied for hottest) January through March in all three records.


The record temperatures we’re seeing now are especially impressive because we’ve been in “the deepest solar minimum in nearly a century.” It now appears to be over. It’s just hard to stop the march of anthropogenic global warming, well, other than by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, that is.

What is it going to take to wake people up?  What is it going to take to force our politicians to take the necessary steps to avoid apocalyptic catastrophe?  Nobody seems particularly motivated to act.  For the politicians, there's too much money pouring in from fossil fuel industries.  The citizens are no better, stubbornly clinging on to their toys, their gadgets, their deeply destructive lifestyles.

Changing your light bulbs isn't going to make any difference.  Bringing your own bag to the grocery store won't do a damned thing.  The problem is very simple - you consume too much.  Your lifestyle cannot merely be tinkered and nudged at the edges.  Your lifestyle is the problem.

And do you know the most frustrating part of it all?  We've known about this for over a century.  The first research paper addressing global climate change, and the burning of fossil fuels, was published in the 1890's.  Frank Capra made movie reels about global warming in the 1950's; you can watch it on Youtube.  But humanity has continued to flop on the seamy side.  Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death!

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