Those pesky records...

One thing that always gets me is a "new record temperature". One day last year it was the "hottest day since 1913" or something. So I have to ask, if we can't even beat the 1913 record I mean, pretty weak right? In all seriousness though these people would have you believe this was the hottest our planet has ever been.

Another LiveScience special I came across today:

In 2100 Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels will be much higher than anytime during the past 650,000 years. (IPCC)

So here's my point - earth is 4.5 billion years old or so. Life hasn't been around for that full length of time, but let's put a couple things in perspective here - dinosaurs DIED OFF 65 million years ago and they were around for upwards of 200 million years. Before that we have several hundred million years of complex life. 650,000 years since we broke the record? If we compare that to the 200 million years since the dinos died off we're looking at about 0.3% - comparing that to my hottest day on record since 1913 example that basically means we would have had the hottest day in the last 4 months.

Anyway check this graphic out - it'll be a while before we break the CO2 record.