Climate change caused by humans is real and scientists keep warning us about how serious it is. In order to educate people about global warming, climate scientist Ed Hawkins created an animated graphic which proves that climate change is not a hoax, but a real threat that needs to be taken seriously.
In less than a minute you will be able to see 166 years of climate change before your eyes. This graphic includes data from January 1850 to March 2016 and presents all this information as a spiral contained inside a circle. It starts with the average weather from 1850-1900 which is taken as zero, and from there shows yearly changes. Red borders of the circle stand for 1.5° and 2° Celsius degrees, while colors spinning from the middle represent temperature averages in a time frame. And as expected you can see that since 1850, temperature is constantly increasing year by year.
Data collected since 1850 was used in order to reduce ambiguity, as previous measurements are not that reliable. A gridded dataset from Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction Research based in the U.K. was taken as reference due to its meticulous weather observations. Ed Hawkins also claims that humans are responsible for this change, which gives us some hope as this means that we are also responsible for the future of our planet.
It’s time to do our part and start taking measures to stop climate change before it’s too late. We need to avoid an increase of more than 2° degrees Celsius; a digit that has been reported for many climate scientists as a point of no return. This increase is not something insignificant, as it could bring a massive global threat for several plants and animal species, including humans.
