Global warming is human-caused, and will likely lead to rising sea levels and fierce storms over the next decades and centuries, according to the U.N. climate change panel.
Credit: iStockphoto
PARIS: Humans are to blame for global warming and its effects could be unstoppable for centuries to come, according to the U.N. climate change panel.
A report released on Friday by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) - the world's premier scientific authority on global warming - predicted increasingly intense storms, heat waves and heavy rains in the decades to come.
The Earth's average surface temperature will likely increase between 1.8°C and 4°C and sea levels will rise between 18 cm and 59 cm by 2100, the report said.
The impact of pouring greenhouse gases into the atmosphere will cause serious climate disruptions "for more than a millennium," the IPCC said. The exhaustive study by 2,500 scientists from more than 100 countries sounded alarms about the impact of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere, and is designed to help policy makers.
Sea rises, the report notes, are predicted to shrink both the Arctic and Antarctic ice caps, and in some projections "Arctic late summer ice disappears almost entirely by the latter part of the 21st century."
It is likely that that future tropical cyclones - similar to the one that devastated New Orleans - will become more intense, with large peak wind speeds and heavy precipitation, it said.
Britain's environment minister, David Miliband, said the report confirmed "concerns that the window of opportunity to avoid dangerous climate change is closing more quickly than previously thought."
Environmental pressure groups responded by calling for urgent international action to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Friends of the Earth said the world now faced a "crisis," and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) conservation group said governments must now "slash emissions". Greenpeace warned the "window for action is narrowing fast".
"The IPCC report embodies an extraordinary scientific consensus that climate change is already upon us and that human activities are the cause," said WWF International director general James Leape.
"It is a clarion call to governments to act urgently to slash emissions," he added in a statement.
Jan Kowalzig, climate and energy campaigner for Friends of the Earth, said, "The IPCC report scientifically confirms the extent of this man-made crisis already hitting people around the world and makes bleak predictions for the future." He added: "We can no longer afford to ignore growing and compelling warnings from the world's leading experts."
WWF said governments must ensure the next U.N. Climate Conference, set for Bali, Indonesia, in December, is a success. Hans Verolme, head of the WWF global climate change programme, said it must set a "tight time frame for negotiating new cuts in emissions within a next Kyoto Agreement that will also promote clean investments."
Greenpeace climate and energy campaigner, Stephanie Tunmore, called the IPCC report a "screaming siren" of a warning. "The good news is our understanding of the climate system and our impact on it has improved immensely. The bad news is that the more we know, the more precarious the future looks," Tunmore said.
i agree with this
GLOBAL WARMING IS COMPLETELY AND ENTIRELY OUR FAULT AND IF WE DON'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT, IT WILL JUST GET WORSE AND WORSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ur wrong
its not entiarly our fault nature has something to do w/ it. duh.
Our Fault?
I honestly have to say that I think that global warming is our fault. Our cars, our factories, large farms. Cars=pollution, factories=pollution, and large farms=methane gas from the animals waste. The cargo ships that sail the ocean put pollution into the water, killing fish and other sea creatures, not to mention the plants that keep the sea creatures alive. Sometimes boats anchors hurt the coral. This is resulting in the faster degrading of the coral. As it degrades, it releases methane gas that also kills sea creatures and plants. Garbage, not just food waste, but items like plastic bags in landfills. They degrade as time wears on. What do you think this releases into the atmosphere? More methane gases. Do you think that we can stop this from happening? We can't stop it but we certainly can help. Recycle plastic bags, don't throw them away. Same with cardboard and cans. When it's warm outside, walk or ride a bike to places that aren't to far away. Plant a garden, it helps with the atmosphere. I'm sorry if I have offended anyone, or made anyone upset. I am only stating my thoughts and facts that I have learned. You don't have to listen to them, or even read them if you don't wish to.
Shantelle Beasley, Age 14, Sandpoint High School
pffft.....
1.) 150 billion tons of co2 is cycled between the earth and the atmosphere natural (i.e. oceans vegetation)
2.) 5 billion tons of co2 is put in the atmosphere by humans
3.)that is what?.....5% 10%?
4.) the glacial melting needs to happen in order to let water evaporate and replenish the caps
5.) warming periods and cold periods have happened before (about every 1,500 years) in history and warming periods are not as bad as cold
6.)now hate on me
Global Warming / Climate Change inevitable
Government and other organizations invest a lot of money on research for global warming and climate changes. But the question is, can we really stop these things from happening? I will answer: NO!
God knows how many times this had happen in the past million years and yet people are wasting time and money to try and prevent this from happening. Are you really up to that? I am so sick and tired of watching and listening to advertisements and campaigns on climate changes and to other people, this does not make any sense. If you are an average person earning just enough for your family and to pay some bills, would you really put your effort to try and prevent global warming as your top priority? I would worry about the food we have to take everyday, rather than this stupid campaign to stop global warming. You can't stop it anyway so why worry? It is not our fault because to me it is a natural process. Why don't these goverment officials and other rich organizations/people who invest their money a lot on research in global warming just help the poor people who don't have shelter to warm them and no food to eat?
MyJourney 2008
it is are fault think about it
we do thigs everyday to what we call earth and ppl might think your not polluting the earth but you are because i bet you all drive a car to work all have thrown a piece of paper on the ground and yes we can make a difference if ppl would take the time to listen and really understand what is happing in the world and whenn your walking on that side walk pick up that piece of paper and do the right thing and this stuff is coming straight form an 12 year old hahahaha so of you ppl r dumb
Honestly.
I'm twelve. And I am not going to say I know everything. Or even half of everything. But I'm not saying I'm stupid.
Some of these comments people are leaving make these people look like fools. If you going to leave a comment, and try to sound smart don't say "Ur" and "U" and other abreviations. It makes you sound awfully ignorant.
Anyways about Global Warming. In some ways it is our fault, some ways it isn't. Well its what I think, we've been talking about it at school. What I must know is, why point fingers? What help is that?
Anyways, just thought I'd put out my thoughts on this. And if anyone wants to tell me why we need to point fingers that'd be great, because I don't ask questions for no reason thank you very much ( :
-Abby
Don't say Ur and U...
though "Anyways" is acceptable grammar?; "stones" and "glass houses" come to mind...
global warming
Amber is an idiot about the whole trash thing polluting our air and causing global warming. How the carbon dioxide cycle works is the air that animals and us breathe is put into the air and then taken in by plants. Then the plants put out oxygen thus making a cycle that can stay at a constant rate of 280ppm. This has been what it has been like since the last ice age. Now that we had fossil fuels, cars, and machinery to the picture, we have been adding 5% more carbon dioxide to the air every year PLUS tearing down forests. So while we have been taking away the stuff that filters carbon dioxide, we have also been adding extra to the air. So yes WE are to blame.
Wheres the Proof
How does this article actually prove that man is not to blame?