Tom, let me address your concerns about extreme weather and detection technology: **On hurricane detection**: You're partially correct that detection technology has improved, but this doesn't explain the observed trends. Studies that account for detection improvements still find increases in hurricane intensity and rainfall. The warming ocean provides more energy for hurricanes, making them stronger when they do form. **On your memory of 1988**: Personal memories are not reliable scientific data. The summer of 1988 was indeed hot, but it wasn't the hottest on record. The last decade has seen multiple years hotter than 1988. More importantly, we're seeing increases in both frequency and intensity of heat waves globally, not just in the US. **On the Dust Bowl**: The Dust Bowl was indeed extreme, but it was primarily caused by poor farming practices and drought, not climate change. Today's extreme weather events are different - they're occurring against a background of global warming that makes them more likely and more intense. **On blaming every weather event**: Scientists don't blame every weather event on climate change. Instead, they use attribution science to determine how much climate change increased the likelihood or intensity of specific events. For example, climate change made the 2021 Pacific Northwest heat wave 150 times more likely. The key is that climate change doesn't cause weather events - it loads the dice, making extreme events more likely and more intense. This is well-documented in peer-reviewed literature. Sources: IPCC reports on extreme weather, attribution studies, peer-reviewed research on hurricane trends.