Climate Change

July 2016 was the hottest month on Earth since people began keeping records, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It beat a record set in July 2015. Land temperatures were 1.8°F above average. July 2016 was also the 379th consecutive month with temperatures above the 20th century average.

Human activity has negatively affected animal populations on land for tens of thousands of years, with numerous instances where unsustainable hunting practices or deliberate, widespread acts of eradication have led to what scientists call “defaunation” — the human-caused global extinction of a species.

Reporting on the issue of climate change has sometimes been characterized by “false balance” — the tendency to cover scientific findings as if there were always two “sides” that each legitimately differed over facts. But over the past decade, the scientific consensus has grown even clearer: Global warming is happening and humans are the cause.