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The 2009 State of the Climate report released today draws on data for 10 key climate indicators that all point to the same finding: the scientific evidence that our world is warming is unmistakable. More than 300 scientists from 160 research groups in 48 countries contributed to the report, which confirms that the past decade was the warmest on record and that the Earth has been growing warmer over the last 50 years.
And the bottom line:
Each of the last three decades has been much warmer than the decade before. At the time, the 1980s was the hottest decade on record. In the 1990s, every year was warmer than the average of the previous decade. The 2000s were warmer still.
That said, there is little chance, in my opinion, that conservation and recycling are going to save civilization should warming continue or accelerate, as appears probable. Even if everyone in the US stopped driving SUVs, as it were, global economic growth will keep carbon levels rising and push us closer to potentially devastating environmental transformation. The only way out that I can see is national investment in renewable low-carbon energy sources. They have to become cheaper than fossil fuels on a real basis: then people will adopt them and carbon levels may stop increasing. Interestingly, this is an approach that the fraction of the G.O.P. that has not been captured by the oil and gas industry (does it exist?) may find appealing, since it will create a vast new energy industry.
