I realize there are actually people out there who believe global warming's all a great conspiracy, just like the moon landings were staged in a sound studio in California or whatever, but unfortunately for them the facts - those pesky things! - keep getting in the way of their fevered imaginations. The latest example: this morning, the World Metereological Organization issued a press release, entitled "2000–2009, THE WARMEST DECADE". Here's an excerpt:The year 2009 is likely to rank in the top 10 warmest on record since the beginning of instrumental climate records in 1850, according to data sources compiled by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The global combined sea surface and land surface air temperature for 2009 (January–October) is currently estimated at 0.44°C ± 0.11°C (0.79°F ± 0.20°F) above the 1961–1990 annual average of 14.00°C/57.2°F. The current nominal ranking of 2009, which does not account for uncertainties in the annual averages, places it as the fifth-warmest year. The decade of the 2000s (2000–2009) was warmer than the decade spanning the 1990s (1990–1999), which in turn was warmer than the 1980s (1980–1989). More complete data for the remainder of the year 2009 will be analysed at the beginning of 2010 to update the current assessment.In addition, the report points to "Severe droughts," "Intense storm events and precipitation," and the "Third-lowest Arctic sea ice" (part of a trend in which "Arctic sea ice has declined dramatically over the past 30 years at least").
Now, despite all this evidence, if you really still want to "believe" (as if this is a matter of "belief" and not empirical evidence and rational thought) that the climate isn't being totally @#$@##$'ed up by humans pouring billions of tons per year of greenhouse gases - CO2, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, etc. - then you probably also believe in the flying spaghetti monster. You probably also don't want to "believe" in evolution, but again, it's one of the most extensively researched and empirically solid concepts in science. Just as global warming now has overwhelming, irrefutable, diverse evidence collected over decades by untold scientists (all of whom, of course, were in on the conspiracy, just like these guys) to back it up. The only real questions aren't whether global warming is occurring, it's how severe, how fast, and what are we going to do about it?
