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Thoughts on everything from climate modeling to energy policy.

Watch 62 Years of Global Warming in 13 Seconds

Watch 62 Years of Global Warming in 13 Seconds

From our friends at NASA comes this amazing 13-second animation that depicts how temperatures around the globe have warmed since 1950. You’ll note an acceleration of those temperatures in the late 1970s as greenhouse gas emissions from energy production increased worldwide and clean air laws reduced emissions of pollutants that had a cooling effect… Read More

5 Charts Help Illustrate 2012 As Warmest Year on Record

5 Charts Help Illustrate 2012 As Warmest Year on Record

The 1°F margin between 2012 and 1998 may not seem like much at first, but usually such temperature records are set by just a few fractions of a degree. As seen in this NOAA chart, 2012 towers above the pack of warm years.… Read More

New York Times Op-Ed: Rising Seas, Vanishing Coastlines

New York Times Op-Ed: Rising Seas, Vanishing Coastlines

The New York Times featured a Sunday op-ed by Ben Strauss, Climate Central's director of the program on sea level, in which Strauss says there are two basic ways to protect ourselves from sea level rise: reduce it by cutting pollution, or prepare for it by defense and retreat. … Read More

Cutting Short-lived Pollutant Can Halve Near-term Warming

Cutting Short-lived Pollutant Can Halve Near-term Warming

Much within Amy Luers' recent Daily Climate essay on extreme weather and the climate crisis is to be commended. Indeed, cutting emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) today won't eliminate a climate change-induced pattern favoring more severe storms and extreme weather. In advocating for emissions cuts, the climate change community has to avoid … Read More

World Bank Ties Ending Poverty with Climate Change

World Bank Ties Ending Poverty with Climate Change

The World Bank called for urgent action on climate change on Sunday after it released a report that examined the economic, ecological and human impacts that a 7.2°F rise in global temperature would have on the world’s population… Read More

Only Rare Cold Will Keep 2012 From Being Hottest Year

Only Rare Cold Will Keep 2012 From Being Hottest Year

With a month and a half to go before 2013 begins, it’s still technically possible that 2012 won’t end up as the warmest year on record for the continental U.S. It’s possible, but it’s not likely and won’t be easy.… Read More

Will Sandy Be the Climate Change Wakeup Call We Need?

Will Sandy Be the Climate Change Wakeup Call We Need?

Calling Hurricane Sandy a disaster almost underplays the enormous devastation wrought by this freakish monster of a storm. Four days after Sandy came ashore just south of Atlantic City, NJ, millions are still without power, gas stations are running out of fuel, and the death toll continues to rise. But for those of us who worry about climate chan… Read More

A Record Lack of Rain in Drought-Stricken Nebraska

A Record Lack of Rain in Drought-Stricken Nebraska

As the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) stated in its monthly drought report, several states also blew away their previous records. "It should be noted that the dryness this year has been so extreme and persistent that, not only did several states rank driest for several time scales... but their records were by wide margins compared to the prev… Read More