@UCSUSA “Union of Concerned Scientists” doesn’t understand what “unprecedented” means when used with the word “warming”

Despite the name, UCS, is a political advocacy group, producing FUD while trolling for dollars. Here’s a great example with a h/t to Dr. Howard “Cork” Hayden.

Earth’s surface has undergone unprecedented warming over the last century, and especially in this century.

Every single year since 1977 has been warmer than the 20^th century average, with 16 of the 17 warmest years on record occurring since 2001, and 2016 being the warmest year on recorded history. A study from 2016 found that without the emissions from burning coal and oil, there is very little likelihood that 13 out of the 15 warmest years on record would all have happened.

Source: https://www.ucsusa.org/global-warming/science-and-impacts/science/human-contribution-to-gw-faq.html

First a definition of the word “unprecedented”:

Note that “in this century” isn’t part of the definition. it says “never done or known before”

So in that spirit, here’s some other “unprecedented” warming in Earth’s history, via the Vostok Ice Core dataset:

The little red box highlights the temperature spike in the present that is attributed to “man-made warming”.

All of the other reddish spikes dwarf the current “unprecedented” temperature increase.

Perhaps UCS should rename themselves the “Union of Confused Scientists”.

Remember though, they’ll take anyone, even a dog. All you need is a valid credit card.