Global Warming Increasingly Dire, New Report Frantically Warns

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A bleak future for our planet is being direly warned. Global warming is much more serious than previously predicted - research now shows that tragic devastation that once was predicted as 'likely' to occur is now 'almost certain' to occur this century, The Guardian reports.

A new report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will be released to the general public on February 2. The report, according to CNN, is written by over 600 scientists, reviewed by another 600 experts and edited by bureaucrats from 154 countries, and will release its first phase in Paris next week.

"A draft copy of the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, obtained by The Observer, shows the frequency of devastating storms - like the ones that battered Britain last week - will increase dramatically. Sea levels will rise over the century by around half a metre; snow will disappear from all but the highest mountains; deserts will spread; oceans become acidic, leading to the destruction of coral reefs and atolls; and deadly heatwaves will become more prevalent.

What impact will this mean for us and our children, and what are the effects?

"The impact will be catastrophic, forcing hundreds of millions of people to flee their devastated homelands, particularly in tropical, low-lying areas, while creating waves of immigrants whose movements will strain the economies of even the most affluent countries.

'The really chilling thing about the IPCC report is that it is the work of several thousand climate experts who have widely differing views about how greenhouse gases will have their effect. Some think they will have a major impact, others a lesser role. Each paragraph of this report was therefore argued over and scrutinised intensely. Only points that were considered indisputable survived this process. This is a very conservative document - that's what makes it so scary,' said one senior UK climate expert." (As a sidenote here, I wonder why they chose not to address his name?)

There is some comfort, however. The panel believes the Gulf Stream will go on bathing Britain with its warm waters for the next 100 years. Some researchers have said it could be disrupted by cold waters pouring off Greenland's melting ice sheets, plunging western Europe into a mini Ice Age, as depicted in the disaster film The Day After Tomorrow."

How serious is the current damage, and is there still hope to rectify our mistakes?

"'However, there is still hope', said Peter Cox of Exeter University. 'We are like alcoholics who have got as far as admitting there is a problem. It is a start. Now we have got to start drying out - which means reducing our carbon output.'"

It will be interesting to see what data the final report will actually contain. I do feel in general that it's imperative to build awareness on environmental issues in order to further preserve the planet and support delicate ecosystems from becoming extinct. Societies need to start becoming educated and taking drastic steps to recover these crucial ecological chains today, while we still have opportunity to reverse some of the inflicted damage.

Like the fascinating and complex make-up of our human bodies, nature is incredibly self-healing if given an opportunity to regenerate. And no amount of money in the world will matter if beautiful Mother Earth crumples around us as a direct result of greed and ignorance. I also believe strongly in our duty to provide for our future children - not to fail them and rob them of so much.

Due to the critical essence of this topic in general, one of my objectives is to pro-actively search for viable solutions and provide that knowledge for my readers. Therefore, you'll most likely see more tidbits on environmental issues and conservation cropping up on this blog. Every contribution we choose to make may literally produce a world of difference for our generation and the next.

Get active. Become educated. And be the change.

~†~ Baby Steps are Key ~†~

=^..^=

Sources: Guardian Unlimited - Global Warming: the Final Verdict, CNN - Smoking Gun Report to Say Global Warming Is Here

Comments

[Stever Robbins]

Sadly, we've known about the consequences of reckless environmental policy for decades. It was always "let's save the planet for our children," which let us psychologically ignore the problem, thus saving our standard of living for us, while letting our children fend for themselves someday in the future.

The not-so-funny part is that even as far back as the Limits to Growth study in 1972, it was clear that under many different scenarios, large problems will start to occur by 2100. Maybe that's "our children" to someone over 60, but even then, a 20-year-old could expect to be alive well into the problem time.

Now it's looking like the problem may be here a lot sooner than we thought, and we've only ourselves to blame.

What can we actually do? The Kyoto treaty seems to think that reducing emissions to 1990 levels will somehow help. How? If 1990 levels were safe, we wouldn't have a problem. We actually need a reduction to 1890 levels, and I don't see anyone on the planet being willing to make that reduction. We'd rather die in 20 years than reduce our standard of living today.