What's Really Warming The World?

Professional email listservs are treasure troves of good ideas and pedagogical sharing. I love them, and have been greeted by people I have never met before with "Oh you're that Bree! You're always commenting / replying / asking questions on [insert listserv name here]."

This link to a Bloomberg Business graphic called "What's Really Warming The World" recently came through one such listserv and I wanted to forward it to everyone I know. The Blog of Phyz seemed like a faster route.

The graphic and accompanying article discuss each of the most common suspected causes of our global climate change and general increase in global temperature. The data is based on the findings from NASA's Goddard Center for Space Studies.

The 1.4 degree temperature increase in our global temperature is plotted from 1880-2005. Each of the potential contributors is discussed in turn and their influence on the global temperature plotted. "Natural Factors" (orbital changes, the sun, and volcanoes) are discussed first followed by "Human Factors" (land use, ozone depletion, aerosol use and green house gases). I found the visual powerful and scientifically intriguing and that doesn't happen too often.

Click the link to the article: the graphs are large and animated. And compelling.