070410_180, originally uploaded by tash.
Today, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report has been published. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says immediate action is required, like now. There are still some from the flat-earth society that think none of this is true, but they are largely employed by ‘vested interests’ oil companies etc with their finger on the scales. Peer reviewed science is now quite certain on the magnitude of catastrophic effects that can be expected. This is true now, whether or not we mend our ways, since the time we have spent on this argument, we might have best been best employed in doing things about it. With peak oil and the like, we could well be on the wrong side of the ‘tipping point’ beyond which there will be irreversible changes. So much for the good stewardship of the planet.
It strikes me, that arguments about which industries are responsible, which countries are making a greater impact, (why should we do anything, while others [China, US] are not), and now some are trying to decide which social class is more to blame. I don’t care about class [I have no idea what class I am anyway] .
FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! History at school told me something about the Roman Emperor Nero, who practiced his fiddle, while Rome was burning. He was misguided, no? I guess the urgency of the situation means that we will be ineffective if we descend in to arguing who’s’ fault it all is / was. How are we going to proceed to mitigate what effects are already coming down the pipe at us?
Waiting for democratic politics to become effective and do something, does not appear to me to be an option. Further committees, working groups focus groups to inform politicians on needs, all the time the clock ticking. The public are still hugely under informed due to a gross failure of both politics and the media in explaining the issues to the public. [except this media type, who is just doing his best 🙁 ] . I offer a round of applause to those who are prepared to take personal efforts to highlight this issue. You have my thanks guys.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the world may be nearing a tipping-point on climate change. “We all agree. Climate change is real, and we humans are its chief cause. Yet even now, few people fully understand the gravity of the threat, or its immediacy. Now I believe we are on the verge of a catastrophe if we do not act.”
His comments were endorsed by environmental groups on the fringes of the IPCC gathering.
“Climate change is here, it’s impacting our lives and our economies, and we need to do something about it,” commented Hans Verolme, director of the climate change programme with the environmental group WWF.
After this report, there are no politicians left who can argue they don’t know what climate change is or they don’t know what to do about it.”
Mr Ban says a new report on climate change has set the stage for a real breakthrough in tackling the issue. “Let us recognise that the effects of climate change affect us all, and that they have become so severe and so sweeping that only urgent global action will do. We are all in this together – we must work together,” he said.
Among the report’s top-line conclusions are that climate change is “unequivocal”, that humankind’s emissions of greenhouse gases are more than 90% likely to be the main cause, and that impacts can be reduced at reasonable cost, if acted upon now.
The synthesis summary finalised late on Friday warned that climate change may bring “abrupt and irreversible” impacts.
Such impacts could include the fast melting of glaciers and species extinctions.
“Approximately 20-30% of species assessed so far are likely to be at increased risk of extinction if increases in global average temperature exceed 1.5-2.5C (relative to the 1980-1999 average),” the summary concludes.
Other potential impacts highlighted in the text include: between 75m and 250m people projected to have scarcer fresh water supplies than at present yields from rain-fed agriculture could be halved food security likely to be further compromised in Africa widespread impacts on coral reefs.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Working Group I Report “The Physical Science Basis”
Working Group II Report “Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability”
Working Group III Report “Mitigation of Climate Change”
Information for the press :: Summaries and links
If you can’t deal with the full report….. here is the summary
