I titled this post and today’s show “Hotter than July” because there hasn’t been another month, since they began keeping track of such things, hotter than last month. Yes, July 2015 was officially the hottest month ever!
July’s average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces was 1.46 degrees Fahrenheit above the twentieth century average, and 0.14 degrees Fahrenheit higher than the previous record set in July 1998. And, as temperatures rose, sea ice continued to shrink, with the average extent of Arctic Sea ice falling to 350,000 square miles below the average from 1981 to 2010. Fourteen of the last 15 years have been the warmest ever recorded on the planet.
If that doesn’t scare you enough, try this:
Record-high temperatures in 2015 would provide further evidence for a long-term warming trend — a fact currently disputed by a vocal group of climate skeptics. Since records began in 1880, global temperatures have risen by 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit. And, over the last 100 years, the global average sea level has gone up by seven inches.
More alarmingly, a recent study predicted that even if governments across the globe somehow manage to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels — a near-impossible task — sea levels might still rise by up to 20 feet. The only uncertainty that remains, according to climate change experts, is when this might happen.
Still want to side with the anti-science crowd? Sickening…
I also shared an editorial at the top of the show by Native American Gyasi Ross of Blackfeet Nation/Suquamish Nation Territories titled “I Support Bernie Sanders for President and I Also Support the Black Lives Matter Takeover in Seattle,” in which the author makes some very good points. But I caution against painting any demographic group with a broad bush.
Writing “White folks don’t ever want to talk about race. Ever.” is as offensive as over generalizing about any minority group. I hope we can all back away from making such inflammatory statements.
Today on the show, Julianna Forlano joined me to talk about everything in the news, including the Ashley Madison hack which revealed Josh Duggar and over 15,000 people with .gov email addresses as clients, and the new “little pink pill” to help get women in the mood for sex.
Our last hour of the week is usually reserved for #FlashbackFriday when we segue into the weekend by drawing from my extensive archives of my days in music radio. We had a double-header today, with Graham Parker from Nov. 6, 1996 at KSCA fm 101.9/Los Angeles, and Fastball from 15 years ago today – Aug 21, 2000 at LA’s Channel 103.1.
And with that, the weekend begins! I’ll be back Monday with Joel Silberman, and whatever else the news throws our way, radio or not!
