Climate 411

The author of today’s post, Lisa Moore, Ph.D., is a scientist in the Climate and Air program.

This past week there’s been a lot of buzz about a small correction that NASA made to U.S. temperature data. Some have said, incorrectly, that the new data show that 1934 edges out 1998 as the warmest year on record, rather than 1998 as previously thought. Actually, 1934 edged out 1998 in the old U.S. record, too, although the difference was not statistically significant. My favorite quote on all this is from Tim Lambert, who said in his coverage of the issue that "1998 and 1934 went from being in a virtual tie, to being in a virtual tie".

Climate change deniers have been all over the NASA correction, saying it proves that global warming isn’t happening. Of course, that’s ridiculous. For one thing, U.S. temperature isn’t global temperature. Globally, the warmest year on record is 2005, and the second warmest is 1998. But what should we make of those high U.S. temperatures in the 1930s?

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The author of today"s post, Lisa Moore, Ph.D., is a scientist in the Climate and Air Program.

Climate models are usually run far into the future, projecting temperature changes to the end of the century. Over the long term, the effects of greenhouse gases overwhelm all other factors. But climate can have substantial "short-term internal variability" – for example, temperature shifts due to El Niño and La Niña. Climate models have never been able to predict this internal variability – until now.

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The author of today’s post, Sheryl Canter, is an Online Writer and Editorial Manager at Environmental Defense.

The cover story in the current issue of Newsweek is about the bizarre persistence of the global warming deniers, in the face of overwhelming evidence that global warming exists ("Global Warming Is A Hoax – Or so claim well-funded naysayers who still reject the overwhelming evidence of climate change").

Who is funding the doubt machine, and how should science-based organizations respond?

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The author of today’s post, Sheryl Canter, is an Online Writer and Editorial Manager at Environmental Defense.

I attended the YearlyKos Convention in Chicago last week, and what an amazing event it was! I expected to learn ways to blog more effectively, and to meet some of my fellow bloggers. All that happened. The sessions were great, and I met many people I’d previously known only by their writing.

But I didn’t know when I signed up that I’d also get to interact with the Democratic presidential candidates.

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The author of today’s post, Sheryl Canter, is an Online Writer and Editorial Manager at Environmental Defense.

They say knowledge is power. That’s the idea behind an interesting innovation in the U.K. called "smart meters" which tell people in real time how much energy their appliances are using, and how much carbon is being emitted as a result. The goal is to change usage patterns by giving immediate feedback.

Energy usage feedback devices are starting to appear in the U.S., as well.

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The author of today’s post, Bill Chameides, Ph.D., is Chief Scientist at Environmental Defense.

This morning, the Wall Street Journal published an Op-Ed by Dr. William Gray titled "Hurricanes and Hot Air". In it, Dr. Gray argues that there is no link between global warming and the recent "increase in major hurricanes".

Unfortunately, this piece has several inaccuracies and omissions. Let me clear them up.

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