The IPCC have published another draft of report that should be a wake-up call for all nations. Indeed, climate change is becoming each year more frightening, more dangerous and more difficult to stop.
As the New York Times noted on that occasion :
The report was drafted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a body of scientists and other experts appointed by the United Nations that periodically reviews and summarizes climate research. It is not final and could change substantially before release.
The report, intended to summarize and restate a string of earlier reports about climate change released over the past year, is to be unveiled in early November, after an intensive editing session in Copenhagen. A late draft was sent to the world’s governments for review this week, and a copy of that version was obtained by The New York Times.
Using blunter, more forceful language than the reports that underpin it, the new draft highlights the urgency of the risks that are likely to be intensified by continued emissions of heat-trapping gases (…)
Read out more about that topic on Grist and Mother Jones. The former doing a great job summing up the situation :
1. Our efforts to combat climate change have been grossly inadequate.
2. Keeping global warming below the internationally agreed upon 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (above pre-industrial levels) is going to be very hard.
3. We’ll probably see nearly ice-free summers in the Arctic Ocean before mid-century.
4. Dangerous sea-level rise will very likely impact 70 percent of the world’s coastlines by the end of the century.
5. Even if we act now, there’s a real risk of “abrupt and irreversible” changes.
If nations around the world aren’t doing anything near what should be done, YOU can do something. I’ll conjure up an article on that matter very soon, so stay tuned.
Image credits : NASA via Flickr.