Climate over the long-term

A huge difference between children and adults is perspective.  With a greater perspective, ups and downs can be put in better context.  Visiting with those who lived during the "great depression" don't see the recent "great recession" as much of a atrophy as the younger generation does.

Similarly, a look at global temperatures over time can put the current climate change into better perspective.  A lot, unfortunately, depends on what graph we use.  There is no consensus on which data set to use, as is seen in this UN IPCC (International Panel on Climate Change) graph.

I've already written about accuracy of measurement and using indirect measurement to "reconstruct" temperature records, but for purposes of providing perspective, we can take the following graphs of data at face value.  The graph above shows temperature in the Northern Hemisphere for the past 1300 years.  Notice the scale is in tenths of a degree.

Notice the scale on the sides is not tenths of a degree but in an entire degree.  Now notice the far right where we see present day temperatures.  It's been substantially warmer and colder than it is now--not by fractions of a degree, but many degrees.  Somehow humans survived--and even thrived.

Going back even farther, a peer-reviewed scientific paper from Denmark shows ice core samples from 1.4 billion years ago indicate that the "Same forces as today caused climate changes 1.4 billion years ago."  Perspective helps.

It is astonishing to think so many think that right now is the best temperature for the earth.  Wine used to be a major commodity grown and made in England--which can be seen with so many streets in London, including Vine Street, named after wine making that was popular during Roman times.  Oregon now has a thriving grape industry--something that wasn't practical in the 1970's when many were worried about global cooling as seen in this Newsweek article titled "The Cooling World."

Additionally, when Vikings first came to North America, they called the place "Vinland" because of the grapes growing there.  Remember that was probably in Newfoundland, which is not now well known for growing grapes.

People in the Northern Hemisphere love going to warmer areas of the world like California, Florida, and the Mediterranean because they like it there.  Statistically, more people die when it's cold than when it's warm..  Perhaps this warming trend is a good thing.