OUR VIEW: Heat renews debate about global warming

• OUR VIEW

OUR VIEW

Talk about it

Five years ago, The Daily Republic opined that maybe there is something to all of this global warming talk.

We openly noted that global warming is debatable, but also said that it is “hard to turn the other cheek when faced with news that Arctic sea ice is just half of what it was four years ago.”

Again, that was five years ago. And then, of course, the years after we wrote that featured wet and cool summers and downright frigid and snowy winters.

It prompted a few folks to goodnaturedly jab us every time a cold streak set in. Well, at least we assume those were good-natured jabs.

Now, we have read that July was the hottest month ever recorded in the United States. In fact, three of the five hottest Julys on record came in the recent past, including 2012, 2011 and 2006.

And sure enough, a report by The Associated Press noted that analysts at the National Center for Atmospheric Research say that these hot streaks are due, in part, to climate change.

Said analyst Kevin Trenberth: “Global warming from human activities has reared its head in a way that can only be a major warning for the future.”

Great. Now we’re worried once again.

We readily acknowledge that theories behind global warming vary, and some consider the idea complete hogwash. Naysayers simply point out that Earth has a way of working in cycles, sometimes hot and dry, sometimes cool and wet.

But the scientific data seem real enough and the statistics are a bit intimidating. And long streaks of heat only tend to make us wonder anew if global warming is truly the looming catastrophe some claim it is.

It’s too bad the controversy is mired in politics. We suppose former Vice President Al Gore’s role in the issue has made it so, but it shouldn’t be a political hot potato.

It’s hot enough already.

Tags: global warming, climate change, opinion, updates, editorials, weather, heat