The planet isn't going anywhere. We are! We're goin' away.
- Philosopher and comedian, George Carlin
Climate change is happening. It always has and will, but the big question, at least from a political and economic standpoint, is the climate change man-made? I'll use this chapter to put econometric time series modeling to the test to try and learn whether carbon emissions cause, statistically speaking, climate change and, in particular, rising temperatures. Personally, I'd like to take a neutral stance on the issue, always keeping in mind the wise tenets that Mr. Carlin left for us in his teachings on the subject.
The first order of business is to find and gather the data. For temperature, I chose the HadCRUT4 annual median temperature time series, which is probably the gold standard. This data is compiled by a cooperative effort of the...
