From the Guardian:

Global warming is “very likely” to have been caused by human activity, the leading international body studying climate change said in a report today.

The likelihood that the phenomenon has been created by the burning of fossil fuels and other actions is greater than 90%, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded in its fourth report.

(cont.)

Global warming is “unequivocal” fact and is likely to continue for centuries, the study found.

Environmental groups said the IPCC report showed urgent action was needed.

“If the last IPCC report was a wakeup call, this one is a screaming siren,” Stephanie Tunmore, of Greenpeace, said. […]

“Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global mean sea level,” the summary said.

The report said greenhouse gases were already responsible for a series of existing problems, including fewer cold days, hotter nights, intense heatwaves, floods and heavy rains, droughts and an increase in the strength of hurricanes and tropical storms.

The scale of such phenomena in the 21st century “would very likely be larger than those observed during the 20th century”, it said, warning that no matter how much humanity reduces greenhouse gas emissions, global warming and sea level rises would continue for hundreds of years.

“This is just not something you can stop. We’re just going to have to live with it,” co-author Kevin Trenberth, the director of climate analysis for the US-based National Centre for Atmospheric Research, said.

For what real climate scientists (i.e., those who haven’t been bought off by Big Oil and conduct actual research on global climate change) are saying about this latest IPCC report, I suggest going to Real Climate, a blog written by some of the same climate scientists who contributed to the IPCC reports in 2001 and this year. They don’t have a post up yet (as of 7:21 am EST) about this, but I assume by later today they will. Be prepared for lots and lots of “balanced” reporting on this by the media, if last night’s Larry King Live show is any indication.

As an aside, an Exxon funded conservative think tank, the American Enterprise Institute, has been offering scientists $10,000 if they will write articles refuting the IPCC report. Cheap bastards, considering Exxon just reported the largest annual net profit in its history (Thirty-nine and a half BILLION DOLLARS!!) for last year.

























0 0 votes
Article Rating