EricMM 0 Report post Posted February 2, 2007 U.N. Climate Panel Says Warming Is Man-Made By Gerard Wynn and Alister Doyle Reuters Friday, February 2, 2007; 9:05 AM PARIS (Reuters) - The world's top climate scientists said on Friday global warming was man-made, spurring calls for urgent government action to prevent severe and irreversible damage from rising temperatures. The United Nations panel, which groups 2,500 scientists from more than 130 nations, predicted more droughts, heatwaves, rains and a slow gain in sea levels that could last for more than 1,000 years. The scientists said it was "very likely" -- or more than 90 percent probable -- that human activities led by burning fossil fuels explained most of the warming in the past 50 years. That is a toughening from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) last report in 2001, which judged a link as "likely," or 66 percent probable. Possible signs range from drought in Australia to record high winter temperatures in Europe. "February 2, 2007 may be remembered as the day the question mark was removed from whether (people) are to blame for climate change," said Achim Steiner, head of the U.N. Environment Program. "Faced with this emergency, now is not the time for half measures. It is the time for a revolution, in the true sense of the term," French President Jacques Chirac said. "We are in truth on the historical doorstep of the irreversible." The Kyoto Protocol is the main plan for capping emissions of greenhouse gases until 2012 but it has been severely weakened since the United States, the top source of greenhouse gases, pulled out in 2001. Emissions by many backers of Kyoto are far over target. ARCTIC MELT A 21-page summary of IPCC findings for policy makers outlines wrenching change such as a possible melting of Arctic sea ice in summers by 2100 and says it is "more likely than not" that greenhouse gases have made tropical cyclones more intense. The report predicts a "best estimate" that temperatures would rise by between 1.8 and 4.0 Celsius (3.2 and 7.8 Fahrenheit) in the 21st century, within a likely range from 1.1 to 6.4 Celsius. Temperatures rose 0.7 degrees in the 20th century and the 10 hottest years since records began in the 1850s have been since 1994. Greenhouse gases are released mainly by burning fossil fuels in power plants, factories and cars. Many backers of Kyoto, binding 35 industrial nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions to 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2008-12, want outsiders led by the United States and big developing nations such as China and India to get involved. The head of the U.S. delegation defended Bush's policies that brake the rise of emissions rather than cap them. Democrats who control both houses of Congress want tougher action. "The President has put in place a comprehensive set of policies to address what he has called the 'serious challenge' of climate change," said Sharon Hays, Associate Director of the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy. Bush pulled out of Kyoto, saying caps would harm the economy and that Kyoto should include developing nations. He focuses instead on big investments in hydrogen and biofuels. The President of Kiribati, a group of 33 Pacific coral atolls threatened by rising seas, said time was running out. "The question is, what can we do now? There's very little we can do about arresting the process," President Anote Tong said. The report projects a rise in sea levels of between 18 and 59 centimeters (7 and 23 inches) in the 21st century -- and said bigger gains could not be ruled out if ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland thaw. Some leading scientists had criticized a draft for cutting the range from a 2001 forecast of a rise between 9 and 88 cm. Rising seas threaten low-lying islands, coasts of countries such as Bangladesh and cities from Shanghai to Buenos Aires. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Big Ol' Smitty 0 Report post Posted February 2, 2007 The Guardian -- Scientists and economists have been offered $10,000 each by a lobby group funded by one of the world's largest oil companies to undermine a major climate change report due to be published today. Letters sent by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), an ExxonMobil-funded think-tank with close links to the Bush administration, offered the payments for articles that emphasise the shortcomings of a report from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,2004399,00.html Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
EricMM 0 Report post Posted February 2, 2007 Thus all the naysayers out there. Christ. Spread this word all over, smitty... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
snuffbox 0 Report post Posted February 2, 2007 "Global...uh (slight head tilt like a puppy dog)...climate change." The amazing thing are the people that don't need any chunk of the $10,000 payout to agree with the people handing out the cash. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Vitamin X Report post Posted February 2, 2007 Coincidentally, it's groundhog day and Phil the groundhog didn't see his shadow today.. which means we've got an early spring on the way if you believe that stuff. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest "Go, Mordecai!" Report post Posted February 2, 2007 I hope so. It's fucking cold right now. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MrRant 0 Report post Posted February 2, 2007 Can't stop that grant money from coming in... Just sayin'. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dobbs 3K 0 Report post Posted February 2, 2007 What does it matter? If our government doesn't want to do anything about it, it is meaningless. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Legalise Drugs and Murder Report post Posted February 3, 2007 I figure even if we drastically clean things up, the Chinese are wrecking the planet way worse. Good luck convincing that billion and change people not to burn as many fossil fuels. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gary Floyd 0 Report post Posted February 3, 2007 WE DIDN'T...oh, who am I kidding? This scares the shit out of me, for some reason. Doesn't suprise me either. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest "Go, Mordecai!" Report post Posted February 3, 2007 I don't know about this one, but it seems like when EricMM makes a post where he crows about global warming being man-made, he does so on the days when it's just cold as balls out--we're talking 5 and under--and I can't get a goddamn sandwich five minutes away without my face becoming frostbitten. Maybe it's just because he's such a one-trick pony that timing has nothing to do with it, but man, I don't wanna hear about it. "OFFICIAL~!" Smarky ~! and all! I bet you think you're hot shit, huh. At least one of us is warm, then. I agree with Agent, though. The Chinese are a bigger problem than we are. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KingPK 0 Report post Posted February 3, 2007 India as well. It was snowing and about 20 this morning over here. Strike two, Eric. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Art Sandusky 0 Report post Posted February 3, 2007 "It's cold today! This report means nothing!" Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ZGangsta 0 Report post Posted February 3, 2007 I agree with Agent, though. The Chinese are a bigger problem than we are. No they're not. Not yet at least. I agree that China and India are a major major problem in this field and they desperately need to be addressed, but the US is still the leading producer of Greenhouse gasses. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
EricMM 0 Report post Posted February 3, 2007 Sorry guys, I'll be sure to release all global warming weather in the summer time. That'll be so honest. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SuperJerk 0 Report post Posted February 3, 2007 Global warming is defined as an increase in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere. The theory doesn't say it makes it warm all the time, just warmer on average. Do people really not know that? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
snuffbox 0 Report post Posted February 3, 2007 The high here today will probably end up bein -2. I do make jokes about the lack of global warming evidence on these kinda days but that's all they are. It's hard to believe when its this cold but my brain hasnt frozen that much, yet. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
EricMM 0 Report post Posted February 3, 2007 Were we to warm the globe enough to eliminate winters of zero degrees or below in the area of Wisconsin, believe me, you'd know it. And not because of the winters being gone. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
snuffbox 0 Report post Posted February 3, 2007 We've been spoiled most of the winter. It had rarely gotten below 20, often up to the 40s & 50s, for most the winter. Now this cold snap is just brutal. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Vitamin X Report post Posted February 7, 2007 El Nino is also in effect at the moment, but don't let that throw you off. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Big Ol' Smitty 0 Report post Posted February 10, 2007 Uh oh. I think I may have been wrong about agreeing with the vast majority of scientists on this global warming thing. The "global warming is a hoax" crowd just picked up a MAJOR free agent to add to the the dream team of Inhofe & Michael Crichton. That's right... PAT SAJAK~! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SuperJerk 0 Report post Posted February 10, 2007 Uh oh. I think I may have been wrong about agreeing with the vast majority of scientists on this global warming thing. The "global warming is a hoax" crowd just picked up a MAJOR free agent to add to the the dream team of Inhofe & Michael Crichton. That's right... PAT SAJAK~! Not since Jessica Simpson endorsed George W. Bush has a celebrity opinion been this thought provoking. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
snuffbox 0 Report post Posted February 14, 2007 Looks like Matt Drudge has it all figured out. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
