If we did, that would be a good thing, would it not? Remember the 75 million killed by the Black Plague during the beginning of the last cool period? How about all the wars, famine, strife? And how Mankind jumped ahead in technology, life expansion, medicine, women’s rights, and so forth during this warm period?
Pollen data shows humans reversed natural global cooling
Current temperatures are hotter than at any time in the history of human civilization
That subhead is astounding. Human civilization has charitably been around for 6,000 years, and modern humans for around 200,000 years. Can they prove it has never been hotter? Meh, that doesn’t matter to cultists, it’s all about the Narrative.
In order to understand today’s global warming, we need to understand how Earth’s temperatures varied in the past. How does the rapid warming we see now compare with past natural climate changes? Also, how long have humans been having an impact on the climate? These are some questions that can be answered through paleoclimate studies. Paleoclimate research uses natural measurements of the Earth’s temperature. Clever scientists are able to estimate how warm or cold the Earth was far back in time, way before we had thermometers.
An estimate is not hard data.
What the authors found was very interesting. Using data from 642 sites across North America and Europe, the temperatures they found closely matched those expected from computer simulations. They found that throughout most of the Holocene period (the last ~11,000 years), the Earth was warming very slightly. Only in the last ~2000 years has the Earth been in a cooling period (which probably would have continued except that human emissions of greenhouse gases have now reversed the cooling).
Probably? So, they don’t actually know? Hmph.
The authors attempted to put the recent warming (last century or so) into context. They found that the recent temperatures are much higher than temperatures over the past 11,000 years. In fact, according to their calculations, 2016 was warmer than 99.41% of all simulated Holocene years.
So, this is all based on computer models?
This finding is profound. First of all, it means that human greenhouse gas emissions were easily able to overturn what should be a natural cooling trend. Second, the warming we have caused is far outside of the natural range.
Which is funny, since Warmists tend to blame nature when their prognostications fail to materialize.
We have now pushed the Earth’s environment outside of where it should be. There are consequences for this disruption. Those consequences will include significant sea level rise, changes to rain/drought patterns, acidification of ocean waters, and a warmer atmosphere and ocean. There is still time to stop some of the coming climate change, but we are rapidly running out of time. The longer we delay, the worse things will get.
Right! Let’s get back to the time we all lived in huts with no electricity, had unreliable food, women died a lot during child birth, and we all prayed to the gods for a good harvest and pleasant weather.
And yet coolists claim it was warmer during the so-called medieval warm period.
No doubt, it was. http://pages.science-skeptical.de/MWP/MedievalWarmPeriod.htmx
No. Doubt it was.
There fixed it for you.
>Current temperatures are hotter than at any time in the history of human civilization
How much hotter? Why do they never tell you that?
Why not tell you that the temperature is currently 14.7 degrees Celcius. The 20th Century adverage is 14.4 Celcius.
The highest temperature on record is 15.2 C in 1998 and 2017. All other years in between and after are colder.
They do not do so because no one would be that concernened otherwise. And who are they? They are not Climatologists that’s for sure.
By the way, Ice in Churchill Manitoba is greater than ever. Polar bears are not on the endangered species list. You can still hunt them during hunting season.
No ship has recently made it through the North West Passage because the ice is too thick.
A blog here a year ago said that the North Pole would be ice free by now and the warmers all bought it.
(because they want to)
Bottom line is that the atmosphere is not as suceptible to CO2 as thought.. or the carbon tax i am paying is actually working. You decide.
It ain’t the taxes.
It’s Science.
http://catallaxyfiles.com/files/2012/05/Mean-Temp-1.jpg
You can doubt it, but the evidence doesn’t. Sorry
William Teach: Can they prove it has never been hotter?
The evidence is that the Earth’s surface is warmer now than at any time since the end of the last glacial period.
William Teach: An estimate is not hard data.
You are mixing up your terms. It’s an estimate based on hard data.
William Teach: So, this is all based on computer models?
No. It’s based on data, in particular, the distribution of pollen over time.
William Teach: Let’s get back to the time we all lived in huts with no electricity, had unreliable food, women died a lot during child birth, and we all prayed to the gods for a good harvest and pleasant weather.
Not sure why you would want to do that. A better solution is to update the world’s energy infrastructure. That will require technological innovation fueled by continued economic growth.
Phil Taylor: Why not tell you that the temperature is currently 14.7 degrees Celcius. The 20th Century adverage is 14.4 Celcius.
Actually, the current temperature anomaly is about 1°C above the 1951-1980 base period.
>Actually, the current temperature anomaly is about 1°C above the 1951-1980 base period.
Yes but it was colder than the 20th-century average by -4c in 1951-1980.
Therefore 4 degree warming since then is likely natural variation keeping in line with the 20th-century average.
The temperature has been slightly above or below the 20th-century average so there is no reason to assume that current temperature is nothing more than a result of natural variation and not AGW.
If AGW was the culprit, computer models based on that would have been more accurate than they turned out to be.
Phil Taylor: Yes but it was colder than the 20th-century average by -4c in 1951-1980.
Huh? What is “it” in that sentence.
Phil Taylor: The temperature has been slightly above or below the 20th-century average so there is no reason to assume that current temperature is nothing more than a result of natural variation and not AGW.
That is incorrect. Current temperatures are higher than at any time during the last several centuries, and 10x faster than previous recoveries from glacial periods.
The reason the current temperatures are almost certainly not due to natural variation is because natural variation cannot explain the current warming trend, but anthropogenic greenhouse warming can.
From Meehle 2004.