Is the climate getting better or worse than in the past?

The weather has been pretty good lately. In Southern California, we have had a cold summer last year which was nice and a cold wet winter which wasn't so nice but my garden is thriving. Generally, warmth is far better than cold. You can look for exceptions to that rule, such as possibly Polar Bears, but the exceptions are far outweighed by those animals and plants that thrive in milder winters which we have generally had in the last 100 years.

i know that we all realize that the environment including the climate is changing and is going through global warming in which the glaciers are melting which could cause the ozone layer to disappear and the areas get flooded. also we go through much more storms and quakes and others more than the past years and most6 of us have experienced or alteast saw the haiti earthquake as an example because of the shifting of the tectonic plates and the world is getting closer each year to the sun, so the effects are much greater impact and we are the ones to risk it.but like the others said, the climate is always differing and not always the same no matter what the time period is.it depends on where you really are and there is nothing to worry about.

Linlyons, What you are basically saying makes no earthly sense. Basically you are saying that the climate is changing as it has from the beginning of time, but now it may be faster? You are also saying that we were better off when we were hunter/gatherers. That is absolutely absurd. We are now able to set up farm in varying location in a very short period of time. We've domesticated animals to the point of being able to take them anywhere. In fact I would dare say that if a farmer wanted to set up a farm 500 miles away, he could set it up and get all of the animal, along with the farm equipment, and the entire farm, as well as tilling the land, quickly enough to make the next season for growing. This is something that we were not able to do in the past. Basically the whole premise that we would not be able to cope and feed ourselves is entire baseless. The only way this actually becomes the case is if you can demonstrate that under your scare-mongering predictions, the arable land area is significantly going to reduce. You know very well you have no credible research that suggests this.

Hard to say in the good old days before A/C we sat in the shade of a tree and fanned our selves with piece of card board glued to a over size Popsicle stick. Furnished by Funeral homes given out at church. Some admitted they only went to church to get a new fan. Then in the winter we piled on the quilts and blankets. And tried to wait until some one got out of bed and built a fire in the stove. The summer were hotter and the winter were colder. We walked 4 miles to school in knee deep snow up hill both ways. Truthfully in the sixty some thing years I can remember all I can say is the weather has never been dull very long.

It is neither improving nor deteriorating, at least in terms of what those posited fluctuations would represent for the very long term cycles of climate. In fact, such an assertion could also be postulated for Homo Sapiens, as a warming planet (since the end of the last episodic cooling event, commonly referred to as the Little Ice Age), would create milder global average temperatures.

Considering the optimum temperature for humans to operate is around 20C / 70F, and the current average temperature of the Earth is around 12C / 55F, the argument could be pursued that the Earth is not at it's most hospitable for our species.

Do not confuse the climate itself with the consequences of climate and how it changes. A warmer climate would signify flooding of low, coastal plains, which would create a monumental calamity in terms of human habitation, but that is due to our large scale population of the planet. Such a propagated, global species is bound to be affected far more regularly by the Earths constantly evolving lithosphere, pelagic distribution, and meteorological phenomena.

"The main threat to farmers now are environmental regulations." You might add also to those of us that need to eat occasionally. If we're not keeping farmers from farming with regulations, we are paying them not to grow crops or using the crops in some kind of ridiculous effort for "cleaner air".

it is the frequency and intensity of bad weather

if you check what is happening right now worldwide is worrying

if it is not a flood than is drought or a volcano

of course you had that in the past but not all of them at the same time

More of the same .06 rise means nothing .

Depends totally on where you live and what your definition of better/worse climate really is.