An extreme cold snap hits the U.S. and pundits ask: Could this be the end of global warming? At the same time, but unreported, a heat wave hits Australia, driving temperatures above 120 degrees! The point missed by the pundits: Weather happens in your backyard; climate change happens across the globe.
Incredible as it sounds, climate change is measured in tenths of a degree change in earth’s average annual temperature over a decade or two! It takes millions of temperature readings from thousands of sensors located across the globe to calculate a single year’s average annual temperature.
It took 10,000 years to emerge from the last ice age. During that time, earth’s average annual temperature increased .001 Cº per decade. Over the last 100 years, the earth warmed 0.1 Cº per decade; and over the last 20 years, 0.15 Cº per decade — 150 times stronger than earth’s natural cycle!
Although nearly imperceptible, modern global warming has become relentless and is approaching hyper speed — the equivalent of compressing 10,000 years of warming at the end of the last ice age into 70 years! So, don’t be fooled by ill informed pundits, politicians or the anti-science crowd, dangerous global warming is already here and delay only makes it more difficult and expensive to address.
Gary Lintz
Lynnwood
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