What’s New March 2012

As climate change increases developing countries face brunt

New data from NASA shows the planet continues to warm. At the same time, a Climate Risk Index shows that since 1991, developing countries have been most affected by climate related impacts. While Canada withdrew from the Kyoto Protocol stating it did not want to burden taxpayers with an additional $14 bn (Canadian), many economists have noted that the economic costs of inaction far outweight costs associated with action.

The updates to this article include expansion of the above issues as well as new videos and graphs and charts.

• Climate Change and Global Warming Introduction »

New video from NASA shows increasing global temperatures since 1880

NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) monitors global surface temperatures on an ongoing basis. Their analysis shows temperatures around the globe in 2011 compared to the average global temperature from the mid-20th century. The comparison shows how Earth continues to experience warmer temperatures than several decades ago.

Global temperatures have warmed significantly since 1880, the beginning of what scientists call the “modern record.” At this time, the coverage provided by weather stations allowed for essentially global temperature data. As greenhouse gas emissions from energy production, industry and vehicles have increased, temperatures have climbed, most notably since the late 1970s. In this animation of temperature data from 1880-2011, reds indicate temperatures higher than the average during a baseline period of 1951-1980, while blues indicate lower temperatures than the baseline average.

Click on the image to see the video:

• Global Temperature Anomaly, 1880 - 2011 »