In the Hans Christian Andersen fable, an entire populace is duped by the king and his clothiers until a child cries out, “But he isn’t wearing anything at all!”

Today we need another 10-year-old voice to say, “But it hasn’t warmed since I’ve been here!” Data from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association’s Climate Data Center confirms that global land and sea surface temperatures are essentially unchanged since 2002. The science of how greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide respond to the earth’s radiation and warm us is clear. Humans add 30 billion tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere each year, unabated by expensive renewables. But global warming remains at rest.

And we don’t really know why.

There are ideas. The oceans are taking up some of the carbon; the waters acidify and damage coral reefs. The solar sun spot cycle has paused with slightly lower solar output. It is time for us to pause as we study what is really happening with our climate.