This is a well written piece on one subset of contributing factors to our climate. Looking forward to what you have to say about other contributing factors.
As a side note... I don't think earth ever approaches an orbital shape as elliptical as you show in the eccentricity section. I realize you said the scale was exaggerated, so I suspect you are just trying to illustrate the concept.
Thank you for the praise! You are absolutely right, the orbit is very close to circular and the eccentricity is quite minimal. Still, this difference has a profound impact on the amount of radiation received. The animations are quite exaggerated, but I couldn't think of a better way to illustrate it.
It may be a couple weeks before the next part - there is so much to consider!
Well I am sure what ever you decide to go with it will be equally as informative as this nice post.