Hot decades

It is the start of a new decade and the occasion to review a simple fact. The decade to 2010 was in terms of global mean surface temperatures the hottest in recorded history – that is, over about 160 years. It was 0.2 degrees C hotter than the 1990s which were, in turn, the previous hottest decade in recorded history.  No warming did not stop in 1998!  Joe Romm sets out the details.  Barring a lot of supervolcanic activity Romm predicts that the 2010 decade will again be one of record average heat.

So it is Happy New Year but a qualified one.  It is the decade where the world must deal decisively with climate change. Enough denialist lies, fence sitting and prevaricating politics. The evidence on climate change is overwhelming and the option of doing nothing and simply waiting is radical stupidity.