best : political : EARTH AVERAGE TEMPERATURES ARE CLOSE TO A MILLION-YEAR HIGH [+] serious ballot by cranky ACTIVE Tue Sep 26, 06 - Sun Jun 21, 09 Global warming nears ‘dangerous’ level Researchers say average temperatures are close to a million-year high Live Science Sept 25, 2006 Global temperatures are dangerously close to the highest ever estimated to have occurred in the past million years, scientists reported Monday. In a study that analyzed temperatures around the globe, researchers found that Earth has been warming rapidly, nearly 0.36 degrees Fahrenheit (0.2 degrees Celsius) in the last 30 years. "The average surface temperature is 15, maybe 16 degrees Celsius (60 degrees Fahrenheit)," said Alan Robock, a meteorologist and climate researcher from Rutgers University who was not involved with the study. If global temperatures go up another 1.8 degrees F (1 degree C), it would be equal to the maximum temperature of the past million years. "This evidence implies that we are getting close to dangerous levels of human-made (anthropogenic) pollution," said study leader James Hansen of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies. ‘A different planet...’ According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, human-caused greenhouse gases are responsible for most of the warming of the last 50 years. The gases, released by burning of fossil fuels and land clearing, among other factors, trap heat in the atmosphere and warm Earth's surface. Further global warming of 1.8 degrees F (1 degree C) defines a critical level, Hanson said. Robock agrees that temperatures are getting up there. "It's certainly the warmest it's been in the last couple of thousand years," Robock said. "I don't have access to the data about the last million years but it's probably right. I just haven't looked at it in detail. "During the warmest interglacial periods the Earth was reasonably similar to today. But if further global warming reaches 2 or 3 degrees Celsius, we will likely see changes that make Earth a different planet than the one we know," he said. "The last time it was that warm was in the middle Pliocene, about 3 million years ago, when sea level was estimated to have been about 25 meters higher than today." * * * * * * * * How do you think Bush will respond to the latest proof of man-made global warming? Doh! Bush will sign the Kyoto Treaty Bush will say: "Great! Now I can ride my mountain bike in February." Bush will at least admit that some global warming is caused by man Bush will say: "Iran is full of bad people. We must do something about Iran." Bush will take a golf trip to St. Andrews, in Scotland, paid for by Exxon Bush will shut down Nasa and the EPA Bush will announce to the world that Jesus told him that global warming isn't real Bush will have John Bolton blame global warming on the United Nations Ballot #102524 : SEE RESULTS Comment: show your vote with comment?

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