NickTrop
Veteran
Humans Must Act On Global Warming Posted 2007-06-05
Warming of the climate is now unequivocal (unambiguous' or 'beyond dispute). This is the central finding of the May 4, 2007, report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The four-volume report, six years in the making, summarizes the contributions of more than 800 scientists from some 130 countries. Further, the IPCC report, which was reviewed by more than 2,500 climate experts, represents a consensus view among climatologists worldwide (www.ipcc.ch).
Each major conclusion in the IPCC report is carefully qualified as "more likely than not," "very likely," or "virtually certain." Among the major conclusions are the following:
1) The global atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide have increased markedly as a result of human activities since 1750 and now far exceed pre-industrial values.
2) At continental, regional and ocean basin scales, numerous long-term changes in climate have been observed. These include changes in arctic temperatures and ice, widespread changes in precipitation amounts, ocean salinity, wind patterns and aspects of extreme weather including droughts, heavy precipitation, heat waves and the intensity of tropical cyclones.
3) Most of the observed increase in global average temperatures since 1950 is very likely due to the increase in [human-induced] greenhouse gas [GHG] concentrations.
4) Continued GHG emissions at or above current rates would cause further warming and induce many changes in the global climate system in the 21st century that would very likely be larger than those observed during the 20th century.
Americans, who account for less than 5 percent of the earth's population, account for 25 percent of global GHG emissions. Recent polls show that Americans have begun to awaken to the very real threat posed by unabated climate change, a fact partially attributable to the unexpected success of Al Gore’s feature-length documentary, An Inconvenient Truth.
The scientific evidence for human-induced climate change, amassed over the past four decades, is now so compelling that denying it requires willfully burying one’s head in the sand.And yet, deniers of the "inconvenient truth" persist...
In an editorial of May 29, he ignores the consensus view of 2,500 climate experts in favor of the contrary view expressed at the website of a lone 15-year-old high-school student. Why?
It is difficult to fathom the motives of those who continue to deny what is now unambiguous to the experts. Vice-President Cheney asserts that the American standard of living is not up for negotiation. This point of view holds that Americans have an innate right to our current habits of consumption, even if those habits destroy the fabric of life on our home planet. It confuses "standard of living" with "quality of life," terms that are not synonymous. Quality of life will likely improve (because of better health and fewer wars over scarce resources) as lifestyles become less consumptive...
http://tinyurl.com/37odbo
Warming of the climate is now unequivocal (unambiguous' or 'beyond dispute). This is the central finding of the May 4, 2007, report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The four-volume report, six years in the making, summarizes the contributions of more than 800 scientists from some 130 countries. Further, the IPCC report, which was reviewed by more than 2,500 climate experts, represents a consensus view among climatologists worldwide (www.ipcc.ch).
Each major conclusion in the IPCC report is carefully qualified as "more likely than not," "very likely," or "virtually certain." Among the major conclusions are the following:
1) The global atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide have increased markedly as a result of human activities since 1750 and now far exceed pre-industrial values.
2) At continental, regional and ocean basin scales, numerous long-term changes in climate have been observed. These include changes in arctic temperatures and ice, widespread changes in precipitation amounts, ocean salinity, wind patterns and aspects of extreme weather including droughts, heavy precipitation, heat waves and the intensity of tropical cyclones.
3) Most of the observed increase in global average temperatures since 1950 is very likely due to the increase in [human-induced] greenhouse gas [GHG] concentrations.
4) Continued GHG emissions at or above current rates would cause further warming and induce many changes in the global climate system in the 21st century that would very likely be larger than those observed during the 20th century.
Americans, who account for less than 5 percent of the earth's population, account for 25 percent of global GHG emissions. Recent polls show that Americans have begun to awaken to the very real threat posed by unabated climate change, a fact partially attributable to the unexpected success of Al Gore’s feature-length documentary, An Inconvenient Truth.
The scientific evidence for human-induced climate change, amassed over the past four decades, is now so compelling that denying it requires willfully burying one’s head in the sand.And yet, deniers of the "inconvenient truth" persist...
In an editorial of May 29, he ignores the consensus view of 2,500 climate experts in favor of the contrary view expressed at the website of a lone 15-year-old high-school student. Why?
It is difficult to fathom the motives of those who continue to deny what is now unambiguous to the experts. Vice-President Cheney asserts that the American standard of living is not up for negotiation. This point of view holds that Americans have an innate right to our current habits of consumption, even if those habits destroy the fabric of life on our home planet. It confuses "standard of living" with "quality of life," terms that are not synonymous. Quality of life will likely improve (because of better health and fewer wars over scarce resources) as lifestyles become less consumptive...
http://tinyurl.com/37odbo
