Record Heat: The good news? The heat was is about to let up. The bad news: the temperatures of the past ten days are part of a record-setting trend.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found the first half of 2012 to be the hottest on record, which goes back to 1895:
In all, a total of 28 states, all east of the Rocky Mountains, had a record warm first six months of the year. Another 15 states had their top 10 warmest January-June. Only Washington state recorded a cooler-than-average first half of 2012...
Here is a month-by-month breakdown of the warmth over the Lower 48 States:
So piss off, everybody in Seattle.
As we've seen from polling, the more extreme the temperatures, the
more credulous people are of global warming. So the upside of all this heat is we might finally get more meaningful legislation to regulate environmental impact.
Protesting Scientists: Or not! Scientiests in Canada are donning lab coats and
marching in the streets against the Canadian government's enervating of environmental laws. Canada's conservative prime minister Stephen Harper, who looks like a guy buying a TV at Best Buy, doesn't understand all the fuss about this so-called environment:
Harper is accused of pushing through a slew of policies weakening or abolishing environmental protections – with an aim of expanding development of natural resources such as the Alberta tar sands.
His government is also accused of jeopardising Canada's scientific reputation by shutting down the Experimental Lakes Area (ELA), a research station that produced critical evidence to help stop acid rain.
"In my view there are a lot of attempts in this country, and other countries too, to push through resource-based economies," said Prof John Smol, a freshwater lake biologist at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. "People working at ELA are constantly finding reasons why you can't just put a pipeline here, or an industry there, because there are going to be environmental costs."
Yeah, they'll tend to have problems with things like pipelines. Given that Canada is about 98% environment, you'd think Harper'd be a little more concerned.
Air Conditioning Lobby: Last, it's a hell of a time for the rest of us, but it's a golden age for the air-conditioning lobby, which is simply using the heat version of the rule, "Umbrellas cost more in the rain."
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