Because of the corrections to the GISS data 1998 and 1934 went from being in a virtual tie, to being in a virtual tie.

Really nothing wrong with the wish. It would make me very happy for global warming to turn out just to be a statistical quirk or mistake. Phasing out fossil fuels would still be important, but the deadline would not be quite so urgent. What is wrong is mistaking the wish for the reality...

This article summed it up: Across Globe, Extremes of Heat and Rain

The year still has almost five months to go, but it has already experienced a range of weather extremes that the United Nations' World Meteorological Organization said yesterday is well outside the historical norm and is a precursor of much greater weather variability as global warming transforms the planet. ...

"What I saw just brought home exactly what the IPCC and this report are saying -- that we will be having more extreme weather," Clapp said. "What's frightening to me is that it's all happening more quickly than the earlier models predicted, which tells us that the effects of the buildup of greenhouse gases is probably more damaging than we've thought."

Hey, this is "cool." The UN has a new Climate Change portal: http://www.un.org/climatechange/

Ped Shed Blog

What do you remember?

That's right, everyone was POOR!

It was the GREAT DEPRESSION

As in no cars, no money, no heat.

A low point for CO2...yet the 1930s are as hot as the go-go years of CO2 like the 90s.

Why aren't people answering this critical question???????

Why aren't people answering this critical question???????

CO2 goes down...temperature goes up.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression

The Great Depression was the result of the economic downturn that started with the stock market crash on October 29, 1929, known as Black Tuesday. It began in the United States and quickly spread to Europe and every part of the world, with devastating effects in both the industrialized countries and those which exported raw materials. International trade declined sharply, as did personal incomes, tax revenues, prices and profits. Cities all around the world were hit hard, especially those dependent on heavy industry. Construction was virtually halted in many countries. Farming and rural areas suffered as crop prices fell by 40 to 60 percent.[1] Mining and logging areas had perhaps the most striking blow because the demand fell sharply and there were few employment alternatives.

Let us use the analogy of a retirement account.  During the roaring twenties, we were socking it away like mad.  But in the thirties, we had very little money to put into the account.  Yet every time we went to the bank to deposit the nickel we scraped together that week for retirement, the cashier told us that our balance was higher than it had ever been.

Lunacy!  If the account is highest when we put the least money into it, then clearly there is no link between putting money into the account and the account balance.

If every human and every artifice of industry was removed from the planet right now, it would take millennia for CO2 to recede back to pre-industrial levels.  In fact, it would probably take a century just for the world to stop warming, since the world isn't yet in thermal equilibrium given the CO2 already present.

There is too much inertia in the system for a hiccup like the Great Depression to fundamentally alter the overall picture.  If you think you're asking a silver bullet of a question here, then you really don't understand the science you're trying to undermine.

If you want my vision of the future, imagine a woman in army boots and a Che Guevara t-shirt stamping on Sam Walton's face -- forever.