Chalk it up to eco-awareness, The Great Recession, or increased availability of pregnancy prevention methods but people in the US are having fewer kids. News stats from the National Center for Health Statistics show that for 1,000 people in the US, there are 13.5 births.

Photo via the Guardian

It's been a hot, hot summer -- as if you needed me to tell you that.

It had to happen sooner or later. After experiencing the hottest decade on record (2000-2009), the hottest spring (2010), and the hottest overall Jan-June period, and then a bunch of record-shattering highs around the globe, as well as heatwaves and an unusually powerful monsoon, the media was bound to draw the connection between the extreme weather and the warming planet.

Image via the Kansas City Star

"What's happening with the planet's climate right now needs to be a wake-up call to all of us"
That's Dmitri Medvedev, the President of Russia, addressing the record heat waves that are currently devastating the largest nation in the world.

Monks in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis. Photo via Disposable Words

Sometimes we tend to fixate on the wider scope of threats posed by climate change, like the rising global temperatures, the melting ice in the Arctic, general sea level rise, and so on.

Image via Space4Case

Why do some climate skeptics continue to claim that the earth is in the middle of a 'global cooling trend' despite the fact that every reliable source -- NASA, NCAR, NOAA, etc -- has shown temperature records proving otherwise? Why do climate deniers seem to revere satellite data? And why do some skeptics still blame global warming on solar activity?

Photo via CleanTechnica

After I spent a good chunk of the morning penning a criticism of mainstream media's difficulty in covering climate change -- particularly, this New York Times piece that's drawn the ire of green blogs

Image via ScrapeTV

For what I still consider to be the paper of record, covering climate change seems to be becoming something of an Achilles' heel for the New York Times. Look no further than Is it Hot in Here? Must be Global Warming to see why.

Image via Project Groundswell

This shouldn't come as much of a surprise if you've been following any climate related news this year -- we've already seen the hottest global averages ever recorded for April, May, and June, and the hottest Jan.-June period as well.

Image via Climate Progress/NOAA

As we've been reporting, 2010 is shaping up to be the hottest year on record.