Keeping Track of the Earth’s Climate
Today is the 145th anniversary of the establishment of the U.S. National Weather Service. Thus, when we say, “2014 was the hottest year on record,” what we really mean is that it was the hottest year in the last century or so.
It’s amazing how many of our human inventions came along fairly recently.
Up until the mid-19th Century there were no time zones, nor even a standard time within a certain region; one set one’s pocket-watch from a main clock in town, perhaps the tower on top of city hall, which was in turn set by a fellow who synced it to a sundial once in a while. The need for standard time didn’t exist until trains came along, and needed to run according to a schedule that could be published for would-be passengers.
Incredibly, there were no right and left shoes until about this time.
Of course, now we have all this stuff, including the ability to track the rising temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere and project the terrible consequences that will ensue if we don’t change our course. Let’s take advantage of these gifts while we still can.
