xkcd – Earth Temperature Timeline

Written By: - Date published: 9:39 am, January 15th, 2017 - 15 comments
Categories: climate change, disaster - Tags:

Webcomic from xkcd

 

15 comments on “xkcd – Earth Temperature Timeline ”

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  2. Glenn 2
    15 January 2017 at 1:48 pm

    Good chart.
    Unfortunately the current path of temperature increase shown will prove to be on the optimistic side once Trump cancels obligations to the Paris Accord.

    His pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, is a climate change denier best known for suing the EPA in an effort to overturn its clean-energy policies.
    A darling of oil and coal interests, Pruitt has vowed as EPA chief to fight “unnecessary regulations” and promote “freedom” for American business. Trump has stated many times that Climate Change is a Chinese Hoax.

    BTW 42% of Americans wouldn’t believe in your chart as they “know” that God created the earth less than 10,000 years ago many believing less than 6,000 (when the chart shows horses were being domesticated and the Minoans were getting started). 🙂

  3. Glenn 3
    15 January 2017 at 2:16 pm

    Citation for the 42%

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/02/creationism-america-survey_n_5434107.html

    ”
    The Gallup data shows that a distinct majority of Americans have held the belief that God played a role in human origins since they first started asking the three-part question in 1982. The question stated:

    Which of the following statements comes closest to your views on the development and origin of human beings?
    1) Human beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God guided this process.
    2) Human beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God had no part in this process.
    3) God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years or so.

    The percentage of Americans who believe that God created humans 10,000 years ago has only decreased by 2 percentage points in thirty-two years.

    • Clump_AKA Sam 3.1
      15 January 2017 at 2:39 pm

      Your philosophy maybe correct accept for one floor. You can’t talk legs on fish. Chiefdoms will eat bread and drink wine while writing script into extinction

    • weka 3.2
      15 January 2017 at 3:37 pm

      Thanks. As Andre suggests above, the way the questions are framed probably influences the outcome. For instance, how many of the third category choose that because they are relatively ignorant about historical timeframes and concepts of evolution rather than being literalists when it comes to the bible?

      • Lara 3.2.1
        17 January 2017 at 4:13 pm

        But does it really matter Weka?

        The difference between millions of years and 10,000 years is massive. Anyone who disagrees with evolution for reasons of ignorance or religion still disagrees with evolution. The end result is the same.

  4. Sacha 4
    15 January 2017 at 3:14 pm

    humanity’s status: f#!$d