Survey says...!

Today the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) released a provisional statement on the status of global climate in 2011.  At this point it seems appropriate to point out that we have been here before and heard the same things stated over and over again.

Based on data collected from the WMO around the world, they are concluding that despite the fact that 2011 was a La Niña year, it is currently tied as the 10th warmest year on record globally. As you can see on the graph above during La Niña events global temperatures typically cool. The data also shows that the average temperatures seen during La Niña events is trending upwards as well meaning the cool years are getting a lot less cool. 

The Elephant in the conference room

Last month, demographers from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) released a report which estimates the population of the world now exceeds 7,000,000,000 people. This is a critical context for any solution or remedy to anthropogenic climate change. 

The fundamental challenge of climate change is that traditional means of social and economic development reinforce the release of greenhouse gas emissions leading to global warming trends and changes in local and regional climatic conditions.  It is a Catch-22.  The more people there are in the world and the more they are raised from poverty the worse the climate crisis becomes.