GLOBAL WARMING IS REAL, BUT WE SEEM TO BE DITHERING

Let me close the week by concluding my reportage on  global warming:

1.  Mauna Loa Observatory on 4May13 measured 400 parts per million of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere.  This is the highest reading in 3,000,000 years.  In the sequence of human evolution, Australopithecus began appearing 3 million years ago.  On the top graphic, that is the human-like form nine images left of modern man:

No, that individual did not actually measure this concentration.  There are scientific techniques for making this comparison.

2.  This past week, the Yale Project reported:

• Thirty-eight percent of Americans rewarded companies for taking steps to reduce climate warming.
• Half of Americans at least occasionally consider environmental impact when deciding whether or not to buy a product and two-thirds say this is at least somewhat important.
• Only 10% of Americans have bothered to contact a government official about global warming in the past year, and less than 10% of the public has done anything like volunteering time or donating money for the cause.
• Thirty-three percent of Americans are disengaged, doubtful or dismissive about global warming.  Forty-two percent are either alarmed or concerned.  A quarter is cautious. 

3.  NASA and NOAA indicated that 2012 capped the hottest decade on record for global temperatures.Since 1880, the temperature has increased 1.4 F, and every year has been above average since 1996.  The American record for surface temperature was 54.3 F in 1998.  2012 broke that record by an entire degree Fahrenheit.  Said James Hansen (he is 72 and announced his retirement earlier this year after 46 years with Goddard) of NASA:

  Not only did [the U.S.] break the record for the warmest year, we literally smashed the record.

Any doubts about global warming?

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