During the hottest week of the year, the Union of Concerned Scientists has warned that we are all going to burn up in future summers, unless we take action to reduce emissions.
They generated this chart, with a bold statement and no uncertainty :
TABLE 1. Extreme Heat Will Become More Frequent and More Severe in All Regions of the Country
killer-heat-analysis-full-report.pdf
Their claim is that hot weather is caused by CO2. Yet The National Climate Assessment shows that hot weather used to be more frequent, extreme and intense in the US, and that it has declined sharply over the past 80 years as CO2 has increased.
Temperature Changes in the United States – Climate Science Special Report
Data from NOAA shows unequivocally that the frequency of hot days has declined in the US as CO2 has increased.
Midwest heat has declined sharply.
Northeast heat has declined.
Northern Plains heat has declined sharply.
Northwest heat has increased.
However, most of that increase occurred more than 100 years ago. Over the past century there has been almost no change.
Southeastern US heat has decreased.
Southern Plains heat has decreased.
Southwest heat has increased.
However, all of that increase occurred more than 100 years ago. Over the past century there has been no change.
All of the bold claims in the UCSUSA special report are baseless, particularly the claim that the US can control CO2 emissions. China is building lots of new coal fired power plants, and even if the US dropped off the face of the earth – CO2 emissions would continue to increase.
Climate change: Where we are in seven charts and what you can do to help – BBC News
With US emissions declining, China is on target to increase their lead, just as they promised President Obama they would do.
Climate Goals Pledged by China and the U.S. – The New York Times
As Beijing Joins Climate Fight, Chinese Companies Build Coal Plants
Chinese corporations are building or planning to build more than 700 new coal plants at home and around the world, some in countries that today burn little or no coal, according to tallies compiled by Urgewald, an environmental group based in Berlin. Many of the plants are in China, but by capacity, roughly a fifth of these new coal power stations are in other countries.
Over all, 1,600 coal plants are planned or under construction in 62 countries, according to Urgewald’s tally, which uses data from the Global Coal Plant Tracker portal. The new plants would expand the world’s coal-fired power capacity by 43 percent. The fleet of new coal plants would make it virtually impossible to meet the goals set in the Paris climate accord
As Beijing Joins Climate Fight, Chinese Companies Build Coal Plants – The New York Times
“Climate action” has no impact on either CO2 levels or the climate.
ESRL Global Monitoring Division – Global Greenhouse Gas Reference Network
So who are the people behind this fraudulent study? They are defending science budgets and relying on feelings rather than data.
Rachel Licker works to defend climate science budgets and programs.
Kristy Dahl : Feeling Blue About Climate Change? You’re Not Alone.
It’s been a tough year for those of us in the climate change community. Each week has seemed to bring either a fresh report reminding us of how precious little time we have left to try to turn this ship around or a disaster that has climate change’s fingerprints all over it.
