We may be proving Mark Twain wrong for saying that everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it. Scientists say humans are changing the weather by making the world warmer. In fact, according to new findings, the past seven years have been the hottest ever recorded globally 'by a clear margin.'
The findings were released on Monday by scientists with the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service.
While 2021 was not as warm as other recent years, scientists still warned that greenhouse gas emissions are rising globally, and the effects of climate change are still very real.
Researchers reported that 2020 was "effectively tied" for the warmest year on record, joining 2016, which has held the title. While 2021 wasn't the warmest of recent years, it still was warm, being the fifth warmest year, slightly ahead of 2015 and 2018.
A press release summarizing the findings confirmed just how serious the effects of climate change are, with carbon dioxide levels reaching a global record in 2021, partly due to megatons of carbon released by wildfires.
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Vincent-Henri Peuch, the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service director, shared that there is no sign of those records being held for very long.
"Carbon dioxide and methane concentrations are continuing to increase year on year and without signs of slowing down," Peuch said in the release. "Only with determined efforts backed up by observational evidence can we make a real difference in our fight against the climate catastrophe."
In 2021, North America recorded its hottest June, and the U.S. recorded its hottest summer ever, CBS News reported.
Wildfires were also an issue on the west coast, but other states like Minnesota also fell victim to the fires caused by hot and dry conditions.
The director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, Carlo Buontempo, shared that the findings "are a stark reminder of the need to change our ways, take decisive and effective steps toward a sustainable society and work towards reducing net carbon emissions."
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