Are we in the midst of global warming? Yes, we are!

Taney County MO - In referencing the graphic above concerning the average temperatures, this year versus 2017, it was nice to see that the trend was headed upwards in a fairly normal fashion! Other than that rather nasty bout of frigid weather in the mid portion of the month, we've been following the 'global warming' forecast trend rather nicely. In January alone, we've enjoyed temps that have been 7 degrees Fahrenheit above the normal high and 13 above the normal lows! (And, as many people know, it's those elevated night time lows that are the most telling when it comes to talking about climate change). Not that I feel there's anything wrong with it being warmer than it used to. While many environmentalists wring their hands over rising global temperatures, I'm actually very happy. The truth be told, when you have a planet whose population is rising now towards 8 billion, you gotta expect a few unpleasant surprises. Remembering that even though the United States does throw out a lot of carbon dioxide, those amounts for America versus the shear magnitude of the other seven billion plus people in the rest of the world are relatively tiny. Billions of very poor people must cook and heat their 'homes' with an open fire. The carbon dioxide emitted by the practice is absolutely humongous. And sadly, the only way one could change that equation would be to kill off at least half the population! That ain't gonna happen (I hope), and so the global temps will continue to rise. (Thankfully, by the time any really serious effect are felt, quite a large amount of time will have passed). Scientific American published a great article on the topic in which they stated;

In less than 1,000 years, if consumption continues to increase at the current rate, we will have exhausted the currently known reserves of coal and oil. By that time we will have multiplied the carbon dioxide tonnage of the air 18 times. When the ocean–atmosphere system comes back to equilibrium, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the air will be 10 times greater than it is today, and the earth will be 22 degrees warmer. In another few thousand years, when the carbonate content of the oceans has reached equilibrium, the concentration will still be four times greater than it is today. The earth's temperature will then fall to about 12.5 degrees above its present average.'

So, things look to warm up quite a bit, but will not be terribly punishing to humanity for a number of centuries. [Note: Most of the doom and gloom predictions assume that nothing changes and that we will all continue to throw CO2 into the air with wild abandon. Yet in all likelihood, humanity will have managed to kill off itself much sooner than that]! There exists an elephant standing right in the middle of our room that everyone is ignoring. Please see my post on the coming Water Wars for what is even more likely to happen in just a few decades!