Bob Henson writes:

Mid-2023 seems destined to go down as a pivotal period in climate change history — a time when planet Earth seemed to go from a simmer to a full rolling boil in a matter of weeks. What’s jumping out isn’t a single heat wave, but a one-after-another series of global and regional heat records astounding in both scope and persistence.

The world just had the hottest June on record, with unprecedented sea surface temperatures and record-low Antarctic sea ice extent, according to a new report. #StateOfClimate

🔗 https://t.co/7ScabFvIG4 pic.twitter.com/SMOcXdnVUJ

— World Meteorological Organization (@WMO) July 6, 2023

Nothing’s changed in the fundamentals of climate change science. Tens of billions of tons of heat-trapping greenhouse emissions from fossil fuel burning are still being poured into the atmosphere each year. Those emissions are “only” increasing by a percent or so each year and they may well begin to drop later this decade as renewable energy continues to boom — but greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels will continue to drive increased warming of the planet until net-zero emissions are achieved. The mammoth atmospheric burden of greenhouse gases we have added and continue to add will profoundly alter Earth’s climate for centuries, if not millennia, with myriad far-reaching and often-disastrous consequences. [Continue reading…]