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The earth is changing appreciably, and it is undeniable. First, from NOAA:

The year 2010 tied with 2005 as the warmest year since records began in 1880. The annual global combined land and ocean surface temperature was 0.62C or 1.12F degrees above the 20th century average. The 2010 combined land and ocean surface temperature in the Northern Hemisphere was also the warmest on record, while the combined land and ocean surface temperature in the Southern Hemisphere was the sixth warmest such period on record. The annual globally averaged land temperature was 0.96C (1.73F) above average, which tied with 2005 as the second warmest year record.

The Far East was particularly hard hit:

Extreme summer warmth was felt in other areas around the world as well. According to the the Beijing Climate Center, China experienced its warmest summer on record since 1961. And the Japan Meteorological Agency reported that the country had its warmest summer since records began in 1898.

And don't forget the wild weather patterns experienced throughout the year:

Several exceptional heat waves occurred during 2010, bringing record high temperatures and affecting tens of millions of people. Warm conditions were present across India during April. On the 18th, Delhi recorded its warmest April temperature since 1958 when temperatures soared to 43.7C (110.7F). Another heat wave baked northern India and Pakistan at the end of May. According to the Pakistan Meteorological Service, a maximum temperature of 53.5C (128.3F) was recorded in Mohenjo-Daro on May 26th. This was the warmest temperature ever recorded in Pakistan and the warmest temperature recorded in Asia since 1942. In mid-June, a strong blocking pattern settled over western Russia, bringing an unprecedented two-month long heat wave to the area. On July 29th, the Moscow Observatory recorded its highest-ever temperature -- 38.2C (100.8F), breaking the previous record of 37.2C (98.9F) set just four days earlier. Prior to 2010, the hottest temperature in Moscow was 36.8C (98.2F), recorded 90 years ago. That same day, Finland recorded its highest ever temperature as the mercury reached 37.2C (99.0F) in Joensuu, breaking the old record set in Turku in July 1914 by 1.3C (2.3F). The massive heat wave brought Russia its warmest summer (June -- August) on record. At least 15,000 deaths in Russia were attributed to the heat.

And on and on...including this most recent story on the unprecedented rise in water temperatures in the Arctic waters:

Water flowing from the North Atlantic into the Arctic Ocean is warmer today than at any time in the past 2,000 years, a new study shows. The waters of the Fram Strait, which runs between Greenland and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, have warmed roughly 3.5 degrees Fahrenheit over the past 100 years, the study's authors said. The water temperatures are about 2.5 degrees higher than during the Medieval Warm Period, a time of elevated warmth from A.D. 900 to 1300.

On the scale of the past 2,000 years, this is a significant finding:

The findings are another indication that recent global warming is atypical in the context of historical climate fluctuations, said Thomas Marchitto, a paleoclimatologist at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and a co-author of the study.

"It doesn't necessarily prove that the change that we see is man-made, but it does strongly point toward this being an unusual event," Dr. Marchitto said. "On a scale of 2,000 years, it stands out dramatically as something that does not look natural."

More importantly, this finding is further validation of the so-called "Hockey Stick" theory of Climate Change, so maligned by Global Warming deniers, many of whom claim that there is no consensus between scientists (for an attempted complete list of scientists who don't agree with the mainstream assessment, go to this wikipedia page):

The hockey stick graph has long been a target of climate skeptics, who assert that temperatures during the Medieval Warm Period, when vineyards were planted in England and southern Greenland was settled by Norse colonists, were probably higher than they are today. Were temperatures higher in the past, skeptics argue, then recent warming is more likely to be a result of natural variability than a consequence of human activity. A growing number of studies in the last decade have added weight to the theory that the warming seen over the last 100 years is unusual, however.

Here's the graph that the latest study from the arctic waters has helped validate:

The earth's atmosphere is changing and we are the problem. Will we really be able to reverse course?

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