As if the world needed any more evidence that man-made global warming is occurring right in front of our eyes, James Hansen recently added another HUGE piece of evidence with his statistical analysis that gives 1 in 10 odds regarding the likelihood of rare temperatures occurring throughout the world without the influence of global warming.
The analysis is so important because its conclusions are based on statistical analysis, not complex climate models whose conclusions are oftentimes as broad as they are difficult to interpret by the “lay” individual. Hansen’s statistical analysis simply analyzed global temperatures over the past 60 years and asked, “How likely is this to have occurred in the absence of global warming?” 1 in 10.
This new and important piece of evidence for man-made global warming probably won’t win over the skeptics. What Hansen’s new analysis should do though is push reluctant politicians from around the world into taking comprehensive and aggressive actions to finally reduce the amount of greenhouse gases that each of our collective societies spews into the atmosphere on a yearly basis.
Hansen’s op-ed piece in the Washington Post on Friday made the usual Hansenian points of urgency: global warming is here, mankind is brought this phenomenon on itself, the scenario looks dire, but there is still time to act to control the worst effects of global warming.
If there is any sense or respect for objective analysis left in the Republican Party, Hansen’s new analysis may be the remedy to bring it back to the surface of policymaking. Otherwise, the precious little time we have left to address this problem, as Hansen said, won’t be around to give us a choice.
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