By Miriam Raftery

Data provided courtesy of Roger Coppock

September 12, 2016 (San Diego's East County) - Last month was the warmest month of August in 136 years that NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies has kept land and sea records.  The last time it was this hot, back in 1880, James Garfield was president, France was building the Statue of Liberty, Mark Twain was busy writing The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the first outdoor electric light bulb was installed in a street lamp and Science magazine started publication with funding from inventor Thomas Edison.

The 1880s brought a second industrial revolution fueled by growth in railroads, rise of the steel industry, factories and the first skyscrapers, invention of the telephone and the internal combustion engine to power automobiles—all setting the stage for pumping increasing amounts of carbon industry the atmosphere.