If you think that it feels hotter lately, you'd be right. It is. According to
NOAA's National Climatic Data Center, this summer was 1.2°F (0.7°C) above the 1895-2004 mean making it the tenth warmest summer on record in the U.S. and the 2nd warmest globally. If you lived in New Jersey, you just experienced the hottest summer on record since record-keeping started in 1895. We still have two months left in hurricane season and already we're nearing some $200 billion in U.S. hurricane related insurance costs, a record and economy smashing number.
If you still have skeptical relatives and friends on the issue of climate change, sending them the NOAA press release attached below might be a good way to start engaging them on this topic. As we've all witnessed, the impacts of climate change are real and happening now. Those with the least in our society are bearing the brunt of the impacts. This is a challenge to our whole society and we are only going to start to turn the situation around by getting all political factions involved.
Glaciers and icebergs don't vote. While the issue of climate change has mainly been addressed by the "left" in the U.S.- due to the particulars of issue politics, we can't afford not to engage everyone on this. This is not a wedge issue, or a left-versus-right issue. This is a survival issue, and no one side has all the answers or can shoulder the whole burden. Our climate is literally destabilizing before our very eyes as a result of our own pollution and yet we, as a society, still refuse to recognize or deal with this situation.
Therefore, I suggest that everyone on this site think of one person to engage on the issue of climate change who you think might still be resistant to the idea. As most of you are already quite aware, Americans do not get good information on this issue. Despite the recent joint announcement by the world's major science academies confirming for the world that human-induced global warming is a reality, Americans still hear that there is "debate" in the scientific community. High profile politicians such as Senator Inhofe, no less than the Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, can get away with stating outright falsehoods in the media with out being corrected:
"As I said on the Senate floor on July 28, 2003, "much of the debate over global warming is predicated on fear, rather than science." I called the threat of catastrophic global warming the "greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people," a statement that, to put it mildly, was not viewed kindly by environmental extremists and their elitist organizations." - Sen. James Inhofe - (R) OK, Speech to the Senate Floor, January 4, 2005
The state of political polarization has reached a critical point when the chairman of the central Senate committee dealing with this vital issue can make a statement like this in the face of overwhelming scientific unanimity.
"Climate change is real. There will always be uncertainty in understanding a system as complex as the world's climate. However there is now
strong evidence that significant global warming is occurring. The evidence comes from direct measurements of rising surface air temperatures and subsurface ocean temperatures and from phenomena such as increases in average global sea levels, retreating glaciers, and changes to many physical and biological systems. It is likely that most of the warming in recent decades can be attributed to human activities (IPCC 2001). This warming has already led to changes in the Earth's climate." - Joint science academies' statement: Global response to climate change, June 7, 2005 (This statement was signed by the heads of the science academies of the United States, UK, France, Germany, Russia, China, Canada, Brazil, India and Italy.)
Too often we end up "preaching to the choir" on the issue of climate change. We may have the facts on our side, after all the world's science foundations are not "extremist" and "elitist" organizations, as much as Senator Inhofe would like to think.
But being right won't make us any better off in the long-run if we can't convince those of other political faiths of the true nature of the challenge we face in addressing global warming.
So send the press release below to that neighbor, friend, relative, co-worker and ask them to consider the arguments in light of the facts, not the rhetoric. I've also compiled a bunch more basic facts, including a "skeptic's page" on this issue which you can use. Given recent events, now is the time to bring these issues up, we have no time to lose.
National Oceanagraphic and Atmosphereic Administration
Climate of 2005 - August in Historical Perspective, Including Boreal Summer
National Climatic Data Center
15 September 2005
Major Highlights
MUCH WARMER THAN AVERAGE JUNE-AUGUST FOR US AND GLOBE
KATRINA AMONG STRONGEST HURRICANES EVER TO STRIKE U.S. - DURING EXTREMELY ACTIVE FIRST HALF OF HURRICANE SEASON
The June-August summer season was the tenth warmest on record for the contiguous U.S., while precipitation was above average. Global temperatures were second highest on record for the season which runs from June 1 through August 31. Twelve named tropical systems formed in the Atlantic by the end of August, including Hurricane Katrina, which was among the strongest hurricanes ever to strike the U.S., according to scientists at the NOAA's National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C.
US Temperature:
NOAA scientists report that the average temperature for the contiguous U.S. for the June-August summer season (based on preliminary data) was 1.2°F (0.7°C) above the 1895-2004 mean. This was the tenth warmest summer on record, with each state experiencing either near average or above average temperatures. Much above-average temperatures stretched from Missouri and Iowa to the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. New Jersey had its warmest summer on record, while New York, Vermont, and Massachusetts had their second warmest. Statewide temperatures were also much above average in Florida, Louisiana, and Nevada.
The anomalous warmth was not confined to the contiguous U.S. New all-time summer records were established in Honolulu and at the airport on Molokai, Hawaii, where the average seasonal temperatures were 83.1°F (28.4°C) and 78.9°F (26.1°C), respectively. The average summer temperature in Alaska was 2.0°F (1.1°C) above average, the third warmest such season on record for the state.
...
Globe:
The average global temperature anomaly for combined land and ocean surfaces for the June-August season (based on preliminary data) was 1.1°F (0.6°C) above the 1880-2004 long-term mean. This was the second warmest June-August since 1880 (the beginning of reliable instrumental records). The warmest June-August was in 1998 with an anomaly of 1.2°F (0.7°C) above the mean. Warmer-than-average conditions covered most land areas of the world.
For the full press release see NOAA.