Could this be the Pacific Ocean view from the eastern side of Nevada in the not so distant future?

Though the denunciations by climate deniers of anthropogenic (man-made) global warming have subsided over the last year, the increase in temperatures continues none-the-less.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are building up so high, so fast, that some scientists now think the world can no longer limit global warming to the level world leaders have agreed upon as safe.

New figures from the U.N. weather agency Monday showed that the three biggest greenhouse gases not only reached record levels last year but were increasing at an ever-faster rate, despite efforts by many countries to reduce emissions.   SOURCE  

The evidence is mounting so fast that even a former skeptic has now joined the scientific consensus that attributes the “ever-faster rates” to man’s use of fossil fuels to run their automobiles and heat their homes.

University of California physics professor Richard Muller, who was concerned by claims that established teams of climate researchers had not been entirely open with their data … [established] the Berkeley Earth Project [using] new methods and some new data, [found] the same warming trend seen by groups such as the UK Met Office and Nasa. – SOURCE

What is especially ironic about Dr. Mueller’s study is that some of his funding came from the Koch brothers who have been paying any climate scientist who is cash strapped to dispel the overwhelming evidence that points a finger at the burning of fossil fuels for the increase in atmospheric CO2.  The Koch brothers wealth comes from the products they sell related to oil, energy, chemicals and financial products.

Employing no less than 30 lobbyists in Washington, Koch Industries has lobbied to change more than 100 pieces of federal legislation. They included trying to loosen regulations on potentially poisonous substances like dioxins, benzene and asbestos. They have pushed back against restrictions on carbon emissions and funded thinktanks and groups that promote efforts to discredit climate change science.  SOURCE

These lobbying efforts have payed off handsomely as many conservatives in Congress have stymied nearly all legislation that seeks to educate the public on man-made global warming or promote funding and subsidies to generate greater efforts for clean, renewable energy as the supply of finite fossil fuels are consumed .  American peak oil pretty much occurred back in the 1970s yet many in Congress try to ensure the public with the false notion that there are yet untapped sources of oil within our boundaries that will make us oil independent.

One of the most recent efforts to block efforts to better inform the public on dramatic climate change, occurrences that many who study it say are the effects of global warming, is the opposition that recently blocked a request by NOAA “to reshuffle its offices to establish a National Climate Service akin to the agency’s National Weather Service.”

It asked for no new funding to do so.  But in a political climate where talk of the earthly kind of climate can be radioactive, the answer in last week’s budget deal was “no.” Congress barred NOAA from launching what the agency bills as a “one-stop shop” for climate information.

Demand for such data is skyrocketing, NOAA administrator Jane Lubchenco told Congress earlier this year. Farmers are wondering when to plant. Urban planners want to know whether groundwater will stop flowing under subdivisions. Insurance companies need climate data to help them set rates.  SOURCE

But even if all the deniers in the public and Congress converted and accepted the evidence of climate science, they may have done so too late.  Things are changing so rapidly now that we may have passed the point of no return.  What many climate scientists feel is the acceptable amount of CO2 in the atmosphere to slow and eventually reduce the green house effect of 350ppm was passed 20 years ago.

Governments have focused more on projected temperature increases rather than carbon levels. Since the mid-1990s, European governments have set a goal of limiting warming to slightly more than 2 degrees Fahrenheit (1.2 degrees Celsius) above current levels by the end of this century. The goal was part of a nonbinding agreement reached in Copenhagen in 2009 that was signed by the U.S. and other countries.

Temperatures have already risen about 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit (0.8 degrees Celsius) since pre-industrial times.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology professors Ron Prinn, Henry Jacoby and John Sterman said MIT’s calculations show the world is unlikely to meet that two-degree goal now.

“There’s very, very little chance,” Prinn said. “One has to be pessimistic about making that absolute threshold.” He added: “Maybe we’ve waited too long to do anything serious if two degrees is the danger level.”

Andrew Weaver at the University of Victoria, Granger Morgan of Carnegie Mellon University and Gregg Marland of Appalachian State University agreed with the MIT analysis that holding warming to two degrees now seems unlikely.

“There’s no way to stop it. There’s so much inertia in the system,” Morgan said. “We’ve committed to quite a bit of warming.”

So don’t sell that isolated cabin near the top of Donnelley Peak in Nevada’s Calico Mountains.  Your grand kids could enjoy some sandy beach twilights listening to waves splash up against stone facings where nearby mule deer and antelope once grazed.

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Posted by lbwoodgate in climate change, social security, aging, Climate Science/Global Warming Tags: 350ppm surpassed, Climate change, climate extremes, failure to contain CO2 levels in atmosphere, man-made global warming, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Weather Service, Pacific Ocean, Richard Mueller joins climate scientists, Washington