In about 45 years, temperatures on Earth will be hotter than
at anytime during the past one million years, says the U.S. (36)
top climatologist in a new report (37)
today. According to the report, published in the (38)
of the National Academy of Sciences, the planet is just two degrees
shy of an (39) temperature of 59 degrees Fahrenheit, which
is what they (40) the temperature was about a million years
ago. NASA’s James Hansen, along with (41)
from the University of California and Columbia University, are for the first
time, marking a (42) signaling the approach of temperatures
that humans have never (43) . "Humans are now
in control of the Earth’s climate, for better or worse," Hansen says. (44) . What that temperature change
means is that by mid-century, the world will experience even more record heat
waves, wildfires, more intense storms and flooding. In other parts of the world,
(45) . Hansen stresses we can’t wait that
long to cut greenhouse gas pollution, because of the decades it takes for the
climate system to respond to changes. (46) .