January 18, 2017

Chart of the Day: Our Planet Continues to Fry

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There’s just not much to say about this. We now have the official number for 2016, and it was yet another record-setting year for global warming. Here’s the latest set of Arctic temperatures:

The green line is where we’d normally be. The red line is where we are: about 15°C higher than usual. Total sea ice extent is now about 3 million square kilometers less than normal.

However, 2017 will probably be a little cooler than 2016 thanks to the end of our latest El Niño, so I’m sure the climate deniers will be back in the saddle a year from now. In the meantime, we continue to fry.

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DECEMBER IS MAKE OR BREAK

A full one-third of our annual fundraising comes in this month alone. That’s risky, because a strong December means our newsroom is on the beat and reporting at full strength—but a weak one means budget cuts and hard choices ahead.

With only days left until December 31, we've raised about half of our $400,000 goal—but we need a huge surge in reader support to close the remaining gap. Whether you've given before or this is your first time, your contribution right now matters.

Managing an independent, nonprofit newsroom is staggeringly hard. There’s no cushion in our budget—no backup revenue, no corporate safety net. We can’t afford to fall short, and we can’t rely on corporations or deep-pocketed interests to fund the fierce, investigative journalism Mother Jones exists to do. That’s why we need you right now. Please chip in to help close the gap.

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