Tag Archives: grist-please

Is it just us, or does it seem a little warm for December?

by Myrna Posted on December 3, 2012

Is it just us, or does it seem a little warm for December?

By Philip Bump

Well, it is December, everyone. It’s the time of year when you just want to stay huddled up cozily inside, maybe with a roaring fire to provide comfort given the … unseasonably warm temperatures outside.

The projected high-temperature map for today looks like this:
NOAA

Again, it is December 3. Here in New York City, it is expected to reach 64 degrees today, 70 tomorrow. Normal high temperature for December 4 in New York is 54.

Or, to put it another way: Here is a map of all of the record high and low temperatures set yesterday. The highs are indicated by red dots; the lows, purple ones. I think you get the point.

It’s almost as though this chokingly-hot summer never ended. The drought continues (2,293 counties are still designated as disaster areas [PDF]) as do wildfires — a wind-fueled fire in Colorado burned 4,400 acres over the weekend.

A caveat. There is a difference between the weather and the climate. A hot day in December is not uncommon, much less unusual. If there’s one good thing about the record heat we’re seeing it’s this: We get to enjoy another few days without comments from climate deniers saying, “whatevur happened to global wamring lol al gore suxxx.”

Philip Bump writes about the news for Gristmill. He also uses Twitter a whole lot.

Read more:

Climate & Energy

,

Living

Also in Grist

Please enable JavaScript to see recommended stories

Link:

Is it just us, or does it seem a little warm for December?

Posted in GE, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Is it just us, or does it seem a little warm for December?

The world is producing 2.4 million pounds of CO2 a second

by Myrna Posted on December 3, 2012

The world is producing 2.4 million pounds of CO2 a second

By Philip Bump

We have a correction to make. In an article last month we provided some erroneous information that may have painted an inaccurate picture of the state of the atmosphere. We stated that carbon dioxide emissions rose 2.5 percent in 2011. That figure appears to be incorrect.

The actual figure is probably 3 percent.

From The New York Times:

Emissions continue to grow so rapidly that an international goal of limiting the ultimate warming of the planet to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, established three years ago, is on the verge of becoming unattainable, said researchers affiliated with the Global Carbon Project. …

[T]he decline of emissions in the developed countries is more than matched by continued growth in developing countries like China and India, the new figures show. Coal, the dirtiest and most carbon-intensive fossil fuel, is growing fastest, with coal-related emissions leaping more than 5 percent in 2011, compared with the previous year. …

Over all, global emissions jumped 3 percent in 2011 and are expected to jump 2.6 percent in 2012, researchers reported in two papers released by scientific journals on Sunday. It has become routine to set new emissions records each year, although the global economic crisis led to a brief decline in 2009.

The Associated Press puts it in stark terms: the world is creating 2.4 million pounds of carbon dioxide every second. Since you loaded this page, here’s how much carbon dioxide the world has created:

And each of those pounds of carbon dioxide will stay in the atmosphere for at least a century.

So that update again: Global production of carbon dioxide was 3 percent higher last year, not 2.5 percent. We regret the error. And we regret the discovery of coal, too.

Philip Bump writes about the news for Gristmill. He also uses Twitter a whole lot.

Read more:

Climate & Energy

Also in Grist

Please enable JavaScript to see recommended stories

Source:

The world is producing 2.4 million pounds of CO2 a second

Posted in GE, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The world is producing 2.4 million pounds of CO2 a second