Now That's Hot

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that the past twelve months (from May 2011 through April 2012) were the hottest ever recorded for the contiguous 48 states.  The average temperature of 55.7 degrees was nearly 3 degrees above the 20th century average.  If the climate change deniers still have a problem with the data, perhaps they should reflect on the disturbing information that all 10 of the warmest 12-month periods on record have occurred in the last 15 years.  The past year was not an outlier and the trend is clearly tied to human activities and fossil fuel consumption.

Earlier posts have explained (in what some may call mind-numbing detail) the reasons for global warming, the potential consequences, and what we can do about it.  Links to these posts are given at the bottom of the page.  We should not expect to hear much on this during the 2012 election cycle.  Unfortunately, global warming is not an issue that excites the electorate.  But the consequences of inaction are growing daily.  A Republican-controlled Congress or White House will delay effective action for at least another four years.  Just another reason to get to the polls in November no matter how disappointed we on the left might be with some Obama policies. 

In the meantime, while we wait for politicians to face up to the situation and begin the massive effort needed to correct it, we can all start to do the "little things" in our daily lives to help mitigate the problem.  There's a great list of 50 simple actions at the Global Warming Facts website.  You can click on this link to reach it.  You may have seen and acted upon some of these suggestions before (tire pressure, car pooling, mass transit, compact flourescent light bulbs, fresh/organic food, less meat, etc.).  But this checklist can help us get started and keep track of how we are doing. As Global Warming Facts states on the web page, this list provides "50 simple things that everyone can do in order to fight against and reduce the Global Warming phenomenon: some of these ideas are at no cost, some other require a little effort or investment but can help you save a lot of money, in the middle-long term!"

August 2011 Ecology and Climate-Related Posts
Silent Spring, Nuclear Winter, Gaia and Medea
Global Warming 101 - Part I
Global Warming 101 - Part II
Global Warming 101 - Part III
Global Warming 101 - Part IV