JMFJ,
By "on record", what time period are we talking about? If I chose to take as my sample today, for example (69 balmy degrees here in Cincinnati), then my average would be 69 and I'd go from there.
If I take the last 50 years, I'd have a different average.
If I take the last 200 years, I'd have a different average.
If I take the last 1000 years, I'd have a different average.
If I take the last 1,000,000 years, I'd have a different average.
If I take the last 1,000,000,000, I'd have a different average.
Depending upon how broad a perspective you take, there is either a problem or there isn't. Either the world is supposed to be cold, as Al Gore assumes, or it's not, as a sensible Earth Scientist would.
Aside from the perspective taken, which clearly should include at least the last 2 million years when the ice age we're in started, you also must actually look at how the data was acquired.
The data based on weather service stations is nearly useless, because the temperatures have trended higher over the years due to building things like suburbs and parking lots around what 80 years ago were isolated, rural weather stations.
The reliable data now is taken from satellites, which do not show this warming trend.
Regardless of data chosen, you have to look at how the earth system works. CO2 is simply a minimal warming effect compared to sun output, water, methane, continental placement, ocean current routes, volcanic activity, plants available, earth orbit shape, earth axial tilt, earth axial direction, cloud formation, etc.
You can orgue if you want that the globe is getting warmer or colder. Scientifically, you can not legitimately argue that human CO2 emissions play a role.
