- D0PPELGANGER

- PhillySportsGuy

Good morning, everybody. Several years ago, the State Department began a review process for the proposed construction of a pipeline that would carry Canadian crude oil through our heartland to ports in the Gulf of Mexico and out into the world market.

This morning, Secretary Kerry informed me that, after extensive public outreach and consultation with other Cabinet agencies, the State Department has decided that the Keystone XL Pipeline would not serve the national interest of the United States. I agree with that decision.

This morning, I also had the opportunity to speak with Prime Minister Trudeau of Canada. And while he expressed his disappointment, given Canada’s position on this issue, we both agreed that our close friendship on a whole range of issues, including energy and climate change, should provide the basis for even closer coordination between our countries going forward. And in the coming weeks, senior members of my team will be engaging with theirs in order to help deepen that cooperation.

Now, for years, the Keystone Pipeline has occupied what I, frankly, consider an overinflated role in our political discourse. It became a symbol too often used as a campaign cudgel by both parties rather than a serious policy matter. And all of this obscured the fact that this pipeline would neither be a silver bullet for the economy, as was promised by some, nor the express lane to climate disaster proclaimed by others.

To illustrate this, let me briefly comment on some of the reasons why the State Department rejected this pipeline.

First: The pipeline would not make a meaningful long-term contribution to our economy. So if Congress is serious about wanting to create jobs, this was not the way to do it. If they want to do it, what we should be doing is passing a bipartisan infrastructure plan that, in the short term, could create more than 30 times as many jobs per year as the pipeline would, and in the long run would benefit our economy and our workers for decades to come.

Our businesses created 268,000 new jobs last month. They’ve created 13.5 million new jobs over the past 68 straight months -- the longest streak on record. The unemployment rate fell to 5 percent. This Congress should pass a serious infrastructure plan, and keep those jobs coming. That would make a difference. The pipeline would not have made a serious impact on those numbers and on the American people’s prospects for the future.

Second: The pipeline would not lower gas prices for American consumers. In fact, gas prices have already been falling -- steadily. The national average gas price is down about 77 cents over a year ago. It’s down a dollar over two years ago. It’s down $1.27 over three years ago. Today, in 41 states, drivers can find at least one gas station selling gas for less than two bucks a gallon. So while our politics have been consumed by a debate over whether or not this pipeline would create jobs and lower gas prices, we’ve gone ahead and created jobs and lowered gas prices.

Third: Shipping dirtier crude oil into our country would not increase America’s energy security. What has increased America’s energy security is our strategy over the past several years to reduce our reliance on dirty fossil fuels from unstable parts of the world. Three years ago, I set a goal to cut our oil imports in half by 2020. Between producing more oil here at home, and using less oil throughout our economy, we met that goal last year -- five years early. In fact, for the first time in two decades, the United States of America now produces more oil than we buy from other countries.

Now, the truth is, the United States will continue to rely on oil and gas as we transition -- as we must transition -- to a clean energy economy. That transition will take some time. But it’s also going more quickly than many anticipated. Think about it. Since I took office, we’ve doubled the distance our cars will go on a gallon of gas by 2025; tripled the power we generate from the wind; multiplied the power we generate from the sun 20 times over. Our biggest and most successful businesses are going all-in on clean energy. And thanks in part to the investments we’ve made, there are already parts of America where clean power from the wind or the sun is finally cheaper than dirtier, conventional power.

The point is the old rules said we couldn’t promote economic growth and protect our environment at the same time. The old rules said we couldn’t transition to clean energy without squeezing businesses and consumers. But this is America, and we have come up with new ways and new technologies to break down the old rules, so that today, homegrown American energy is booming, energy prices are falling, and over the past decade, even as our economy has continued to grow, America has cut our total carbon pollution more than any other country on Earth.

Today, the United States of America is leading on climate change with our investments in clean energy and energy efficiency. America is leading on climate change with new rules on power plants that will protect our air so that our kids can breathe. America is leading on climate change by working with other big emitters like China to encourage and announce new commitments to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions. In part because of that American leadership, more than 150 nations representing nearly 90 percent of global emissions have put forward plans to cut pollution.

America is now a global leader when it comes to taking serious action to fight climate change. And frankly, approving this project would have undercut that global leadership. And that’s the biggest risk we face -- not acting.

Today, we’re continuing to lead by example. Because ultimately, if we’re going to prevent large parts of this Earth from becoming not only inhospitable but uninhabitable in our lifetimes, we’re going to have to keep some fossil fuels in the ground rather than burn them and release more dangerous pollution into the sky.

As long as I’m President of the United States, America is going to hold ourselves to the same high standards to which we hold the rest of the world. And three weeks from now, I look forward to joining my fellow world leaders in Paris, where we’ve got to come together around an ambitious framework to protect the one planet that we’ve got while we still can.

If we want to prevent the worst effects of climate change before it’s too late, the time to act is now. Not later. Not someday. Right here, right now. And I’m optimistic about what we can accomplish together. I’m optimistic because our own country proves, every day -- one step at a time -- that not only do we have the power to combat this threat, we can do it while creating new jobs, while growing our economy, while saving money, while helping consumers, and most of all, leaving our kids a cleaner, safer planet at the same time.

That’s what our own ingenuity and action can do. That's what we can accomplish. And America is prepared to show the rest of the world the way forward.

Thank you very much.

-- President Barack 'Like a Boss' Obama

i can hear the scissors cutting.

snip snip snip snip

i can hear the scissors cutting.

snip snip snip snip
- kicksave856

Canada getting a vasectomy day by day

Canada getting a vasectomy day by day
- watsonnostaw

Ship by pipeline, or by rail, the Oil is going to get to the market.

Shipping by rail is way more GHG intensive, so Obama is, with this decision, making things worse for the environment.

Ship by pipeline, or by rail, the Oil is going to get to the market.

Shipping by rail is way more GHG intensive, so Obama is, with this decision, making things worse for the environment.
- D0PPELGANGER

ty Dave Suzuki

The Arctic Ocean is warming up, icebergs are growing scarcer and in some places the seals are finding the water too hot,
according to a report to the Commerce Department yesterday from Consulate, at Bergen, Norway.

Reports from fishermen, seal hunters and explorers all point to a radical change in climate conditions and
hitherto unheard-of temperatures in the Arctic zone.

Exploration expeditions report that scarcely any ice has been met as far north as 81 degrees 29 minutes.

Soundings to a depth of 3,100 meters showed the gulf stream still very warm.

Great masses of ice have been replaced by moraines of earth and stones, the report continued,
while at many points well known glaciers have entirely disappeared.

Very few seals and no white fish are found in the eastern Arctic, while vast shoals of herring and
smelts which have never before ventured so far north, are being encountered in the old seal fishing grounds.

Within a few years it is predicted that due to the ice melt the sea will rise and make most coastal cities uninhabitable.

This must have been caused by the Model T Ford's emissions.

OOPS!
* * * * * * * * *
I must apologize.

I neglected to mention that this report was from November 2, 1922,
as reported by the AP and published in The Washington Post - 93 years ago

Are you laughing yet, at the politicians of today
trying to do a "money grab", at your expense.
Carbon Tax is just as bad.
Every person and animal on planet earth requires carbon to stay alive.

http://docs.lib.noaa.gov/.../050/mwr-050-11-0589a.pdf

lol

The Arctic Ocean is warming up, icebergs are growing scarcer and in some places the seals are finding the water too hot,
according to a report to the Commerce Department yesterday from Consulate, at Bergen, Norway.

Reports from fishermen, seal hunters and explorers all point to a radical change in climate conditions and
hitherto unheard-of temperatures in the Arctic zone.

Exploration expeditions report that scarcely any ice has been met as far north as 81 degrees 29 minutes.

Soundings to a depth of 3,100 meters showed the gulf stream still very warm.

Great masses of ice have been replaced by moraines of earth and stones, the report continued,
while at many points well known glaciers have entirely disappeared.

Very few seals and no white fish are found in the eastern Arctic, while vast shoals of herring and
smelts which have never before ventured so far north, are being encountered in the old seal fishing grounds.

Within a few years it is predicted that due to the ice melt the sea will rise and make most coastal cities uninhabitable.

This must have been caused by the Model T Ford's emissions.

OOPS!
* * * * * * * * *
I must apologize.

I neglected to mention that this report was from November 2, 1922,
as reported by the AP and published in The Washington Post - 93 years ago

Are you laughing yet, at the politicians of today
trying to do a "money grab", at your expense.
Carbon Tax is just as bad.
Every person and animal on planet earth requires carbon to stay alive.

http://docs.lib.noaa.gov/.../050/mwr-050-11-0589a.pdf
- D0PPELGANGER

blue ball dopps

http://wattsupwiththat.co...vanish-and-icebergs-melt/

Canadian Pacific train derails in Wisconsin, spills oil

http://www.ctvnews.ca/wor...nsin-spills-oil-1.2648594

Too bad there was not a safer method of transporting Oil

Oh wait......

Canadian Pacific train derails in Wisconsin, spills oil

http://www.ctvnews.ca/wor...nsin-spills-oil-1.2648594

Too bad there was not a safer method of transporting Oil

Oh wait......
- D0PPELGANGER

I have solar panels and I run to work since I'm so physically fit

The Arctic Ocean is warming up, icebergs are growing scarcer and in some places the seals are finding the water too hot,
according to a report to the Commerce Department yesterday from Consulate, at Bergen, Norway.

Reports from fishermen, seal hunters and explorers all point to a radical change in climate conditions and
hitherto unheard-of temperatures in the Arctic zone.

Exploration expeditions report that scarcely any ice has been met as far north as 81 degrees 29 minutes.

Soundings to a depth of 3,100 meters showed the gulf stream still very warm.

Great masses of ice have been replaced by moraines of earth and stones, the report continued,
while at many points well known glaciers have entirely disappeared.

Very few seals and no white fish are found in the eastern Arctic, while vast shoals of herring and
smelts which have never before ventured so far north, are being encountered in the old seal fishing grounds.

Within a few years it is predicted that due to the ice melt the sea will rise and make most coastal cities uninhabitable.

This must have been caused by the Model T Ford's emissions.

OOPS!
* * * * * * * * *
I must apologize.

I neglected to mention that this report was from November 2, 1922,
as reported by the AP and published in The Washington Post - 93 years ago

Are you laughing yet, at the politicians of today
trying to do a "money grab", at your expense.
Carbon Tax is just as bad.
Every person and animal on planet earth requires carbon to stay alive.

http://docs.lib.noaa.gov/.../050/mwr-050-11-0589a.pdf
- D0PPELGANGER

At the time, the automobile was seen as a savior for the environment, because of all the piles of poop everywhere from the massive amount of horses needed to do what cars now do in a big city.


statements like the bolded are classic fallacies that add nothing to the debate.


Oil is archaic, electric is the future. There is no "safe" method of transporting oil, be it by pipe, train, or boat, they all have the potential to fail catastrophically.

At the time, the automobile was seen as a savior for the environment, because of all the piles of poop everywhere from the massive amount of horses needed to do what cars now do in a big city.


statements like the bolded are classic fallacies that add nothing to the debate.


Oil is archaic, electric is the future. There is no "safe" method of transporting oil, be it by pipe, train, or boat, they all have the potential to fail catastrophically.
- Schenn-Sational!

Oil is archaic, electric is the future. Yes, I can agree with that. But until they can come up with an electric car that can travel the same distance as a gas powered car, and can be "re-fueled" as fast, we'll be seeing our roads dominated by Petroleum for the foreseeable future.


Pick Your Poison For Crude -- Pipeline, Rail, Truck Or Boat

http://www.forbes.com/sit...eline-rail-truck-or-boat/


Pipelines vs. trains: Which is better for moving oil


http://www.cbc.ca/news/bu...-for-moving-oil-1.2988407

Three Reasons Oil Will Continue to Run the World

While all the buzz surrounds oil prices, the global demand side remains on solid footing: up. Supplying 33% of all energy, oil is the world’s primary fuel. Oil is so important that global demand is ever-growing: 67 million b/d in 1990, 77 million b/d in 2000, and 91 million b/d in 2014. I’ll never understand the animosity of some Westerners toward critical fuels that they depend on everyday, making their lives easier in ways their great grandparents only dreamed of. Oil, after all, is the reason the world is truly globalized. And it’s oil that takes a grandson living in Atlanta back home to Seattle for his grandmother’s funeral…the very same day he learned she passed.

1. More Cars, Trucks, Gasoline, and Diesel Fuel

Thanks to derivatives gasoline and diesel fuel, the ongoing dominance of oil in the rapidly expanding vehicle market just now reaching into developing Asia is about as sure a thing as we have in our energy/environment discussion today. If there’s ever going to be common ground between fossil fuel companies, liberals, conservatives, environmental groups, Al Gore, and the Koch bros, the anti-oil crowd HAS to get over that fact. The power of oil is simply overwhelming. There are now about 1.2 billion passenger cars alone, over 98% of them rely on oil. The fleet is expected to reach 2 billion by 2035 and over 3 billion by 2050, with developing Asia leading the way thanks to rising personal incomes. The numbers will make your head spin. This year, world vehicle sales will reach 89 million, a 37% increase since 2005 – amid the worst economic times since the Great Depression. The world consumes about 24 million b/d of gasoline and 27 million b/d of diesel fuel every day, a staggering 1.5 million gallons every minute. Like it or not, more oil is a numbers game. The U.S., for instance, has 82 cars per every 100 people; China has just 7. And India has just 4 cars per every 100 people…and 385 million kids under the age of 15 (re-read that last part!). Focused in heavy-duty vehicles, diesel could eventually surpass gasoline to become the number one transportation fuel worldwide, as commercial activity can only grow. When nations become more developed, their heavy-duty truck sales are tracked closely with changes in GDP. Despite noise and emission concerns since it’s less refined, diesel engines are also making headway in the passenger car market, offering up to 40% more efficiency.

And contrary to what we keep hearing, not even the rich U.S., easily the largest consumer in the world, is a saturated oil market (see here). Some 16.5 million cars were sold in the U.S. last year, about 120,000 of them were plug-ins, easily the largest electric vehicle market in the world. Truck and SUV sales, meanwhile, were over 8 million. In the U.S., vehicle stock can stay on the road for over 20 years. There are legal obstacles (see here), but that gas guzzler you thought disappeared but really just got scrapped to Mexico has broader potential. Used vehicles make up less than 20% of total car sales volume in China, for instance, compared to over 70% in the U.S. China is selling nearly new 25 million vehicles a year, and only 75,000 of them run on electricity. It’s certainly not for a lack of trying: each plug-in hybrid Chevy Volt sold in the U.S. has been supported by over $250,000 in government subsidies. Over a 10-fold advantage in energy density and highly established global infrastructure give gasoline especially the cost advantage over electric vehicles, a crucial consideration for the poorer nations now crashing the global vehicle market. Renewable Fuel Standards? The United Nations has asked the U.S. to suspend its RFS mandates because they exacerbate the global food crisis. In a world where a child dies from hunger every 10 seconds, “food for fuel” isn’t a solution.

2. 83% of the World Has Just Started to Consume Oil

The idea that the world has really just started to consume oil is one that is very difficult for some Westerners to accept. It’s easy to see why: we have all the oil that we need and want. Americans consume over 2.6 gallons of oil products every day, and there are 255 million oil-based cars in the country. But, most of the world doesn’t have it as easy as we do. A rising 83% of the world is undeveloped, and the transport demands for the poor are just now coming to light. The developed, OECD nations use 50% of the world’s oil but are just 17% of the population. The rich consume 1.6 gallons of oil products a day, while the poor consume just 0.32 gallons. Given the importance of oil, this five-fold disadvantage for the poor is indeed a moral issue: oil-dependent Westerners are the ones leading the anti-oil charge. Our hypocrisy just isn’t selling in the developing world, Mr. DiCaprio (a must read). Why would it? Poor people wanna be rich too. From 2010-2030, the poor nations are projected to add 800 million new registered vehicles.

After vehicles, the second emerging oil market to watch could be jet fuel. Boeing affirms that commercial aircraft in the world will double to over 40,000 by 2032, with Asia-Pacific becoming the focal point of aviation. Jet fuel demand in the region has more than doubled to over 2 million b/d since 2000. A key reason why we have seen horrific crashes in Asia recently is demand surging faster than pilot training. Indeed, twinned with electricity, oil is the cornerstone of modernity where more demand indicates higher standards of living.

More Oil Use Signifies More Human Development

I have been Big Oil the entire time.

Three Reasons Oil Will Continue to Run the World

While all the buzz surrounds oil prices, the global demand side remains on solid footing: up. Supplying 33% of all energy, oil is the world’s primary fuel. Oil is so important that global demand is ever-growing: 67 million b/d in 1990, 77 million b/d in 2000, and 91 million b/d in 2014. I’ll never understand the animosity of some Westerners toward critical fuels that they depend on everyday, making their lives easier in ways their great grandparents only dreamed of. Oil, after all, is the reason the world is truly globalized. And it’s oil that takes a grandson living in Atlanta back home to Seattle for his grandmother’s funeral…the very same day he learned she passed.

1. More Cars, Trucks, Gasoline, and Diesel Fuel

Thanks to derivatives gasoline and diesel fuel, the ongoing dominance of oil in the rapidly expanding vehicle market just now reaching into developing Asia is about as sure a thing as we have in our energy/environment discussion today. If there’s ever going to be common ground between fossil fuel companies, liberals, conservatives, environmental groups, Al Gore, and the Koch bros, the anti-oil crowd HAS to get over that fact. The power of oil is simply overwhelming. There are now about 1.2 billion passenger cars alone, over 98% of them rely on oil. The fleet is expected to reach 2 billion by 2035 and over 3 billion by 2050, with developing Asia leading the way thanks to rising personal incomes. The numbers will make your head spin. This year, world vehicle sales will reach 89 million, a 37% increase since 2005 – amid the worst economic times since the Great Depression. The world consumes about 24 million b/d of gasoline and 27 million b/d of diesel fuel every day, a staggering 1.5 million gallons every minute. Like it or not, more oil is a numbers game. The U.S., for instance, has 82 cars per every 100 people; China has just 7. And India has just 4 cars per every 100 people…and 385 million kids under the age of 15 (re-read that last part!). Focused in heavy-duty vehicles, diesel could eventually surpass gasoline to become the number one transportation fuel worldwide, as commercial activity can only grow. When nations become more developed, their heavy-duty truck sales are tracked closely with changes in GDP. Despite noise and emission concerns since it’s less refined, diesel engines are also making headway in the passenger car market, offering up to 40% more efficiency.

And contrary to what we keep hearing, not even the rich U.S., easily the largest consumer in the world, is a saturated oil market (see here). Some 16.5 million cars were sold in the U.S. last year, about 120,000 of them were plug-ins, easily the largest electric vehicle market in the world. Truck and SUV sales, meanwhile, were over 8 million. In the U.S., vehicle stock can stay on the road for over 20 years. There are legal obstacles (see here), but that gas guzzler you thought disappeared but really just got scrapped to Mexico has broader potential. Used vehicles make up less than 20% of total car sales volume in China, for instance, compared to over 70% in the U.S. China is selling nearly new 25 million vehicles a year, and only 75,000 of them run on electricity. It’s certainly not for a lack of trying: each plug-in hybrid Chevy Volt sold in the U.S. has been supported by over $250,000 in government subsidies. Over a 10-fold advantage in energy density and highly established global infrastructure give gasoline especially the cost advantage over electric vehicles, a crucial consideration for the poorer nations now crashing the global vehicle market. Renewable Fuel Standards? The United Nations has asked the U.S. to suspend its RFS mandates because they exacerbate the global food crisis. In a world where a child dies from hunger every 10 seconds, “food for fuel” isn’t a solution.

2. 83% of the World Has Just Started to Consume Oil

The idea that the world has really just started to consume oil is one that is very difficult for some Westerners to accept. It’s easy to see why: we have all the oil that we need and want. Americans consume over 2.6 gallons of oil products every day, and there are 255 million oil-based cars in the country. But, most of the world doesn’t have it as easy as we do. A rising 83% of the world is undeveloped, and the transport demands for the poor are just now coming to light. The developed, OECD nations use 50% of the world’s oil but are just 17% of the population. The rich consume 1.6 gallons of oil products a day, while the poor consume just 0.32 gallons. Given the importance of oil, this five-fold disadvantage for the poor is indeed a moral issue: oil-dependent Westerners are the ones leading the anti-oil charge. Our hypocrisy just isn’t selling in the developing world, Mr. DiCaprio (a must read). Why would it? Poor people wanna be rich too. From 2010-2030, the poor nations are projected to add 800 million new registered vehicles.

After vehicles, the second emerging oil market to watch could be jet fuel. Boeing affirms that commercial aircraft in the world will double to over 40,000 by 2032, with Asia-Pacific becoming the focal point of aviation. Jet fuel demand in the region has more than doubled to over 2 million b/d since 2000. A key reason why we have seen horrific crashes in Asia recently is demand surging faster than pilot training. Indeed, twinned with electricity, oil is the cornerstone of modernity where more demand indicates higher standards of living.

More Oil Use Signifies More Human Development
- D0PPELGANGER

Oil is a symbol of modernity for many, because electricity isn't an option, because auto companies are so closely tied with oil companies. It's a bad thing, not a good one.

I have been Big Oil the entire time.
- dt99999

Ty

Record-crushing October keeps Earth on track for hottest year in 2015

By Jason Samenow November 17

October 2015 global temperature departures from average (NASA)

It was Earth’s warmest October ever recorded and it wasn’t even close. The record-shattering month was right in step with most of the preceding months in 2015 — which is positioned to easily rank as the warmest year on record.

New data from the Japan Meteorological Agency and NASA show that the planet obliterated October records established just last year. October 2015 out-baked October 2014 by 0.34 degrees (0.19 Celsius) and 0.32 degrees (0.18 Celsius) in JMA and NASA’s analyses, respectively.

Time series of the global average October temperature (Japanese Meteorological Agency)

And these records are breaking records.

The planet’s temperature departure from the long-term average of 1.04 Celsius in October is the greatest of any month ever recorded by NASA. It marked the first time a monthly temperature anomaly exceeded 1 degrees Celsius in records dating back to 1880. The previous largest anomaly was 0.97 Celsius from January, 2007.
Monthly global temperature departure from average in degrees Celsius (divide by 100 for specific departure).
Monthly global temperature departure from average in degrees Celsius (divide by 100 for specific departure).

The toasty October put another exclamation mark on a year that has essentially locked up the title of warmest on record.

In August, the Earth’s average temperature was running so far ahead of 2014, the previous warmest year, that NOAA said there was 97 percent chance 2015 would surpass it.

Then, the planet recorded its warmest September ever recorded by an unprecedented margin.

[After record-shattering September, 2015 in commanding lead for Earth’s hottest year on record]

Earlier this month, Britain’s weather service, the Met Office, and NASA both stated that the Earth’s average temperature is likely to rise 1 degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels for the first time by the end of this year. This milestone is significant since it marks the halfway point to two degrees Celsius, the internationally accepted limit for avoiding the worst consequences of climate change.

[The world is off course to prevent two degrees C of warming, says energy agency]

Temperatures have trended upward over the last several decades, spurred by increasing and unrelenting emissions of heat-trapping gases like carbon dioxide. Meanwhile, since the spring, a strengthening El Niño event, which is now near record levels, has bumped this year’s temperatures to all-time highs.

[By one measure, this wicked El Niño is the strongest ever recorded: What it means]

El Niño events release vast amounts of heat from the tropical Pacific into the atmosphere. This year’s event is near its peak and may begin to weaken soon, but is expected to remain strong into the winter, likely keeping global average temperatures above or at least very near previous record levels.
Jason is currently the Washington Post’s weather editor. A native Washingtonian, Jason has been a weather enthusiast since age 10.

Record-crushing October keeps Earth on track for hottest year in 2015

By Jason Samenow November 17

October 2015 global temperature departures from average (NASA)

It was Earth’s warmest October ever recorded and it wasn’t even close. The record-shattering month was right in step with most of the preceding months in 2015 — which is positioned to easily rank as the warmest year on record.

New data from the Japan Meteorological Agency and NASA show that the planet obliterated October records established just last year. October 2015 out-baked October 2014 by 0.34 degrees (0.19 Celsius) and 0.32 degrees (0.18 Celsius) in JMA and NASA’s analyses, respectively.

Time series of the global average October temperature (Japanese Meteorological Agency)

And these records are breaking records.

The planet’s temperature departure from the long-term average of 1.04 Celsius in October is the greatest of any month ever recorded by NASA. It marked the first time a monthly temperature anomaly exceeded 1 degrees Celsius in records dating back to 1880. The previous largest anomaly was 0.97 Celsius from January, 2007.
Monthly global temperature departure from average in degrees Celsius (divide by 100 for specific departure).
Monthly global temperature departure from average in degrees Celsius (divide by 100 for specific departure).

The toasty October put another exclamation mark on a year that has essentially locked up the title of warmest on record.

In August, the Earth’s average temperature was running so far ahead of 2014, the previous warmest year, that NOAA said there was 97 percent chance 2015 would surpass it.

Then, the planet recorded its warmest September ever recorded by an unprecedented margin.


- BingoLady[After record-shattering September, 2015 in commanding lead for Earth’s hottest year on record]

Earlier this month, Britain’s weather service, the Met Office, and NASA both stated that the Earth’s average temperature is likely to rise 1 degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels for the first time by the end of this year. This milestone is significant since it marks the halfway point to two degrees Celsius, the internationally accepted limit for avoiding the worst consequences of climate change.

[The world is off course to prevent two degrees C of warming, says energy agency]

Temperatures have trended upward over the last several decades, spurred by increasing and unrelenting emissions of heat-trapping gases like carbon dioxide. Meanwhile, since the spring, a strengthening El Niño event, which is now near record levels, has bumped this year’s temperatures to all-time highs.

[By one measure, this wicked El Niño is the strongest ever recorded: What it means]

El Niño events release vast amounts of heat from the tropical Pacific into the atmosphere. This year’s event is near its peak and may begin to weaken soon, but is expected to remain strong into the winter, likely keeping global average temperatures above or at least very near previous record levels.
Jason is currently the Washington Post’s weather editor. A native Washingtonian, Jason has been a weather enthusiast since age 10.

just finally got to put my window AC units away on saturday.

just finally got to put my window AC units away on saturday.
- kicksave856

haven't turned the heat on in my apartment yet. It's still too hot some nights to sleep comfortably.

I wish my building didn't shut down the AC at a certain time every year.