While we may focus on new technologies that could cut emissions here at TheGreenCarWebsite.co.uk, we don’t like to lose track of why we need alternatives to petrol and diesel in the first place – namely to help tackle global warming.
We were given a stark reminder when preliminary data was issued by the US National Climatic Centre that showed the globally averaged combined land and sea surface temperature was the second warmest on record for June 2009 and that the January-June period tied with 2004 was the fifth warmest on record.
It found that sea surface temperatures throughout June were warmer than average across the world’s oceans and that the global ocean SST for the month was the warmest on record at 0.59°C above the 20th Century average of 16.4°C.
Meanwhile, the most notable cooler-than-average temperatures occurred in south-western USA, the Canadian Prairie provinces and central Asia. There was above average precipitation across parts of central and north east Europe, eastern Asia, the northern half of the contiguous United States and northern Brazil.
