Submitted by Bush Tea
Perhaps we need to put our local brass bowlery into a global perspective. After all, everything is relative, and it may be that while we are despondent about our declining situation, we may in fact be doing very wellโฆ
Consider the below article by Tanya Rakhmilevich of The Alternative Dailyโฆ where February just beat the previous monthly record for global mean temperature by a mileโฆ
Ohโฆand the previous record was January.and …we are ‘marching’ on…Earth Has Just Experienced The Warmest February On Record. If you felt like this past February was unusually warm, youโre absolutely right. It was, in fact, the warmest February ever recorded on Earth.The data regarding this yearโs unusually warm February was recently released by NASA. NASAโs Goddard Institute for Space Studies began keeping records of each monthโs temperature across the globe in 1880 โ and February 2016 tops the charts. Februaryโs global temperature was found to be 1.35 degrees Celsius warmer than the 1951โ1980 average. Interestingly, the previous record was set just a month prior, in January of 2016, which was found to be 1.13 degrees warmer than the 1951โ1980 average.
So, should we be worried? The answer many specialists in this field give is โyes.โ
Professor Stefan Rahmstorf of the Potsdam Institute of Climate Impact Research in Germany stated: โWe are in a kind of climate emergency now. This is really quite stunningโฆ itโs completely unprecedented.โ
Bob Henson and Jeff Masters of Weather Underground reported:
โNasa dropped a bombshell of a climate report. February dispensed with the one-month-old record by a full 0.21C โ an extraordinary margin to beat a monthly world temperature record by.โ During the UN climate summit in Paris, France this past December, it was agreed that two degrees Celsius was a โdanger limit for global warming,โ and that this rise in global temperatures โshould not be passed.โ However, we are getting dangerously close.
Looking at individual regions, the temperature rise in some places has been even higher. In parts of Russia, eastern Europe, Scandinavia, western and central Canada, and Alaska, some temperatures were four or more degrees above the February averages. In parts of the US, central Europe, southwest Asia, and parts of Africa (to name just a few of the various affected regions) temperatures were two or more degrees above the February averages, due to the powerful presence of El Niรฑo this year.
On this disturbing trend, the Weather.com news team wrote:
โClimate scientists emphasize that whether a given month is a fraction of a degree warmer or cooler than a previous month isnโt as important as the long-term, overall trend. And that trend of warm anomalies over the past year or so has become disconcerting, not simply due to the record-tying strong El Niรฑo, but also the degree of higher northern latitude warming.โ
Bob Ward, the policy director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change at the London School of Economics, summarized:
โThese results suggest that we may be even closer than we realised to breaching the [2ยฐC] limit. We have used up all of our room for manoeuvre. If we delay any longer strong cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, it looks like global mean surface temperature is likely to exceed the level beyond which the impacts of climate change are likely to be very dangerous.โ
It seems that we indeed have cause for concern, especially if the warming trend continues. In response to increasing climate change concerns, many parts of the world are transitioning to greener energy and embracing green transportation methods. However, are we as a planet acting quickly enough?
โTanya Rakhmilevich
Tanya is a writer at The Alternative Daily with a passion for meditation, music, poetry, and overall creative and active living. She has a special interest in exploring traditional Eastern remedies and superfoods from around the globe, and enjoys spending time immersed in nature.
Sources:
https://weather.com/news/climate/news/record-warmest-february-global-2016
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/mar/14/february-breaks-global-temperature-records-by-shocking-amount
http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/tabledata_v3/GLB.Ts+dSST.txt
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