Despite Increase In Global Carbon Emissions, Temperature Increases Have Been Almost Non-Existent

President Obama will be giving a major address about the environment, and in advance of that he’s arguing that rising temperatures mean it’s time for the government to act:

The thing is, temperatures aren’t rising. Despite rising global carbon emissions, global temperatures have largely been static. And scientists can’t explain why:

(CNSNews.com) – In a June 20 interview with Spiegel Online, German climate scientist Hans von Storch said that despite predictions of a warming planet the temperature data for the past 15 years shows an increase of 0.06 or “very close to zero.”

“That hasn’t happened,” Storch said. “In fact, the increase over the last 15 years was just 0.06 degrees Celsius (0.11 degrees Fahrenheit) – a value very close to zero.”

Spiegel asked Storch why the Earth’s temperature has not risen significantly in the past 15 years despite 400 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) being emitted into the atmosphere from human activities.

“So far, no one has been able to provide a compelling answer to why climate change seems to be taking a break,” said Storch, a professor at the Meteorological Institute of the University of Hamburg and director of the Institute for Coastal Research at the Helmholtz Research Centre in Geesthacht, Germany.

“We’re facing a puzzle,” Storch said. “Recent CO2 emissions have actually risen even more steeply than we feared.

“As a result, according to most climate models, we should have seen temperatures rise by around 0.25 degrees Celsius (0.45 degrees Fahrenheit) over the past 10 years,” he added.

“That hasn’t happened,” Storch said. “In fact, the increase over the last 15 years was just 0.06 degrees Celsius (0.11 degrees Fahrenheit) — a value very close to zero.

We’re told that there’s an unimpeachable scientific consensus about global warming, and because of that consensus we need to implement costly, sweeping policy changes that seriously impact how we live our lives and conduct our business.

But how can there be a consensus when the climate isn’t behaving as some scientists have told us it would? How do we base policy on scientific finding when the scientists themselves can’t explain why their findings aren’t backed up by what’s what’s actually happening in the world?