World Climate Report » Earth Day 40

Climategate clearly shows a pervasive attempt to paint, in the words of one of its tree ring experts, Keith Briffa, a “nice, tidy story” about global warming. In the same emails, Phil Jones, Briffa’s boss, wishes for global warming to resume so that he can be proven right. Some objectivity.

Video: Larry Brilliant on the volcano and climate change - Boing Boing

Here, Larry Brilliant — the former head of Google.org who famously helped end the smallpox epidemic in 1980 — gives me a post-TEDx recap of what he thinks of the volcano and climate change. "Climate change is the great exacerbator," he says.

[Is Larry suggesting that the perfect Earth temperature is about 57 degrees F, and beyond that, all problems get worse?!]

The average temperature of Earth's surface has varied between 13.8 and 14.6 degrees Celsius (56.8 and 58.3 degrees Fahrenheit) during the period from 1950 to 1999.

In the year 1999, the average global temperature was approximately 14.4 degrees Celsius (57.9 degrees Fahrenheit).

NIH-led Interagency Group Identifies Research Needs to Study Climate Change and Human Health Impacts, April 21, 2010, News Release - National Institutes of Health (NIH)

The white paper highlights the state-of-the-science on the human health consequences of climate change on:
# Asthma, respiratory allergies, and airway diseases
# Mental health and stress-related disorders
# Cancer
# Neurological diseases and disorders
# Cardiovascular disease and stroke
# Waterborne diseases
# Foodborne diseases and nutrition
# Weather-related morbidity and mortality
# Heat-related morbidity and mortality
# Vectorborne and zoonotic diseases (like malaria, which can be transmitted from animals to humans)
# Human developmental effects