This post was written by Alexandra Giese, staff researcher at
the Earth Policy Institute. Topping off the warmest decade in
history, 2010 experienced a global average temperature of 14.63
degrees Celsius (58.3 degrees F), tying 2005 as the hottest year
in 131 years of recordkeeping. This news will come as no
surprise to residents of the 19 countries that experienced
record heat in 2010. Belarus set a record of 38.7 degrees
Celsius (101.7 degrees F) on August 6 and then broke it by 0.2
degrees Celsius just one day later. A 47-degree Celsius
(117-degree F) spike in Burma set a record for Southeast Asia as
a whole. And on May 26, 2010, the ancient city of Mohenjo-daro
in Pakistan hit 53.5 degrees Celsius (128.3 degrees F) — a
record not only for the country but for all of Asia. In fact, it
was the fourth hottest temperature ever recorded anywhere. (See
data at www.earth-policy.org/indicators/C51.) The Earth’s
temperature is not only rising, it is rising at an increasing
rate. From 1880 through 1970, the global a