Assessing the Global Climate in 2019 — a Summary

Just this week I was in an "informal gathering of guys" and the topic of climate change came up. These are average citizens, mostly retirement age. There was some deep division among a six-person group as to the cause of the warming planet. The planet has always had heating and cooling, etc. Interesting that no one is now arguing that it is actually getting colder — which was the case a few years back.

One person challenged scientists in general. Pointing out that they are free to change their minds when there is new data and also change their predictions. His point being they were dead certain, take eggs for instance, were bad for you and now — they are OK to eat. 

I shared that I'm not wedded to a specific date, e.g., by 2030 if we don't take action the impacts will be irreversible. We could have crossed the Rubicon for climate already, or maybe it is 2050 or 2070. Date-specific future warnings don't carry much weight with me — except for Y2K.

But, I can tell you that it is getting hotter here on planet Earth and while we emergency managers are working on climate adaptation, it would behoove us to also do our part on climate change mitigation, where and when we can.

NOAA put together a nice summary of where it is heating up here on Earth, see Assessing the Global Climate in 2019.

Some might call them pointy-headed scientists — but I like them!