Still getting hotter, mama earth is, and not in a sexy way:
The greenhouse gases widely blamed for raising the planet's temperature are still building up in the atmosphere.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported Monday there was a continuing increase in carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide in the air last year, though methane leveled off.
The agency said and there was a decline in two chlorofluorocarbons, gases blamed for the ozone hole over the Antarctic.
Overall, NOAA said, its annual greenhouse gas index "shows a continuing, steady rise in the amount of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere."
The index was set at a base value of 1.0 in 1990. For 2005 it was 1.215, the agency said.
Greenhouse gases, produced by industry, automobiles and other engines, tend to trap heat from the sun at the planet's surface, reducing the amount of heat radiated back out into space.
The result has been a gradual increase of temperatures over recent decades, raising concerns that human activities will result in a damaging climate change.
We are like a patient who insists on a second opinion, and then a third opinion, and then a fourth opinion about the necessity of a life-saving but painful operation. There will be no fifth opinion because the funeral comes first.