evidence: Contrary to what this article implies, the long term global temperature rise is known to be mostly due to human emissions of greenhouse gases. A strong El Niño event helped set a new record in annual global surface temperature in 2015 (and likely again in 2016) by boosting global temperatures on top of the long-term warming trend. [...] In reality, 2014, 2015, and 2016 have been the three warmest years on record not just because of a large El Niño, but primarily because of a long-term warming trend driven by human emissions of greenhouse gases. The modest decline in temperatures in recent months from the peak of the El Niño event is completely in line with what has happened during past large El Niño events and was expected by scientists. [...] The discussion in the article of a disagreement among scientists as to whether the record-breaking global heat in 2015 and again in 2016 was "due to El Niño" vs. "due to global warming" is completely bogus. Both global warming and El Niño, added together, produced these records. El Niño by itself could never have produced such a warm planet as we have now. Everyone, including NASA’s Gavin Schmidt, has been pointing out for some time that temperatures would dip for a while once the El Niño faded, but that’s just a bump on the road to a warmer and warmer planet.