Humans Get The Hot Seat For Global Warming

Last year was the warmest on record for planet Earth, and for the first time federal climate researchers are willing to say people are at least partly to blame.

“I wouldn’t have been willing to say this two years ago. I believe we are seeing evidence of global warming at least some of which is attributable to human activities,” said Elbert W. Friday, research chief of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“Indeed, 1997 was the warmest year on record,” added Tom Karl, a senior NOAA researcher. “The increasing trend of temperatures that we see, we believe, is at least partially attributed to human activities,” such as pollution from cars and factories.

Karl said the Earth’s average temperature last year was three-quarters of a degree Fahrenheit above normal. Normal is 61.7 degrees, the average for the years 1961-1990. The 1997 reading tops the previous warmest year, 1990, by 0.15 of a degree.

Many scientists believe that carbon dioxide and other gases released into the atmosphere by industrial activities are increasing the Earth’s temperature by trapping heat from the sun, somewhat like a greenhouse.