Three photographs, taken in 1912, 1968 and 2003, show how a glacier at Vernagtferner in Austria has shrunk. It lost over half a metre in thickness during 2005. (Images: O Gruber, H Rentsch, M Siebers/Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities)
from www.bbc.co.uk
9 comments:
I do think we need to cut pollution. It can`t be good for anything. However, I`m not convinced that all climate change is due to pollution. the Earth has been changing since day one. Manitoba was once under water. Lake Agssiz dried before SUV`s.
Heck, when the continents began to seperate, I`m sure there was a lot of changes going on.
Maybe our planets axis is a lil` askew?
I repeat, I am not pro-pollution!
didn't they say that that last tsunami tilted the earth off it's axis?
ragnarok: 2012
I'm with you bluemask. I wholeheartedly support those who advocate rethinking the way we use and abuse the resources of our only planet, but those on the pro-environment side of the debate cannot only look at those truths that support their argument, and ignore the rest.
i'm of the opinion that who caused this problem, whether it was us or it's part of a natural cycle (which it isn't), is now pretty irrelevant. global warming is happening, and it seems that the most important question now isn't "are enviro-lefties too quick to blame cars?", the question is "how are we going to save ourselves in time?".
as far as the blame, various geological data (ice samples, for e.g., among others) show that changes which have normally taken thousands of years are now happening over the course of a decade or two. we've sped up the proces vastly, regardless of whether it's part of a natural cycle or not.
years of rigorous, non-partisan, international, scientific data support this idea-- data collected by scientists from every country, every political stripe, every socio-economic background, etc.
and again, regardless of whether we've caused global warming or not, the cutting down of the earth's forests, the overfishing of the ocean, and the pollution of most of the world's fresh water is no one's fault but our own-- there's no natural forces or cycles that we can blame for that.
i don't mean to sound preachy, i just feel that who or what caused this ignores the most pressing issue-- the fact that our very survival is in jeopardy.
although i would also argue (hate that word) that our overconsumption is part and parcel of that issue, too. our survival is in jeopardy, and we're making it worse every minute.
as of today, here is the latest from
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/
Climatic changes seen around the world are "very likely" to have a human cause, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will conclude.
By "very likely", the IPCC means greater than 90% probability.
This is a stronger position than the global organisation took in its last major report in 2001.
But the climate science summary is attracting a huge amount of interest from politicians, other scientists, and environment groups because the IPCC's mandate is to state the definitive scientific position.
Speaking in Nairobi, United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) executive director Achim Steiner told reporters the findings should be "the full stop behind any arguments over what was causing global warming".
"as far as the blame, various geological data (ice samples, for e.g., among others) show that changes which have normally taken thousands of years are now happening over the course of a decade or two. we've sped up the proces vastly, regardless of whether it's part of a natural cycle or not."
The planet is millions of year old.
How can we possibly state what a "normal" rate of change is?
It may seem sped up to the (relative) grain of sand data that we have. As per chance, I was half joking when I mentioned earlier about the great seperation of the continents. Yesterday the Learning channel broadcasted a piece on the topic, concluding that the planet underwent a rapid climate change. Again- fence sitting here- That was before automobiles-and this is just the scientists speculation.
It appears that the planet sheds itself of life every so often, takes a nap, wakes up with new body lice. If that`s in the cards, we can`t stop it.
Increases in asthma, cancer,autism, etc. I do believe are products of our self created toxic environment. Using up our finite resources is unwise. Yes we do affect weather patterns (acid rain, smog)I`m just saying that throwing all your eggs in one basket is limiting.
If I`m not mistaken, didn`t the IPCC`s latest report also state that`s it`s too late to undo the damage?
The 21-page summary of the report by the United Nations's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says more droughts, heat waves, rains and a slow gain in sea levels could last for more than 1,000 years.
Man's "very likely" involvement, resulting from the burning of fossil fuels, is about a 90 per cent certainty, says the report.
The conclusion is the strongest ever, making it almost impossible for bureaucrats to blame the changes on natural forces.
"I don't think there's ever been as much pressure on governments as we're seeing right now and on humanity to change our habits," said CTV's London Bureau Chief Tom Kennedy.
Achim Steiner, head of the UN Environment Programme, said governments have no excuses left.
"February 2, 2007 may be remembered as the day the question mark was removed from whether (people) are to blame for climate change."
The head of the UN panel, Rajendra Pachauri, said the report was a "very impressive document that goes several steps beyond previous research."
Also, a top U.S. government scientist, Susan Solomon, said "there can be no question that the increase in greenhouse gases are dominated by human activities."
The report was released Friday at a climate change conference in Paris, which Environment Minister John Baird was attending, and will serve as a summary for policymakers around the world.
"We've clearly got to take action," said Baird from Paris. "I think Canadians don't want to hear what can't be done but they want to hear what action will be taken by their government and we hear that call."
Baird said the Conservatives will be moving forward on two fronts.
"The biggest action we can take is to begin to regulate industrial greenhouse gas emissions," he said. "We also want to, at the same time, deal with this huge challenge of greenhouse gassing and the immediate threat of air pollution, smog and air quality in Canada."
Report findings
The report says the range of possible temperature increases this century is between 1.1 and 6.4 degrees Celsius -- up from the 1.8 to 5.4 degrees estimated in the panel's 2001 report.
For the first time, the report gives a "best estimate," indicating greater certainty than before, that says temperatures will rise between 1.8 to 4.0 Celsius by 2100.
The panel also approved wording saying man-made global warming can "more likely than not" be blamed for an increase in hurricane and tropical cyclone strength since 1970.
In 2001, the same panel had said there was not enough proof to reach such a conclusion. That report also said that global warming was "likely" caused by humans.
The latest report also projects that sea levels could rise between 18 and 59 centimetres in this century. Meanwhile, the IPCC also concluded that even higher levels remain a possibility in Antarctica and Greenland.
Wording of the new report required consensus from all countries, including the United States and oil-rich countries such as Saudi Arabia.
Some delegates told AP that Chinese officials expressed opposition to strong wording on the global warming statement.
The 1,200 scientists who directly prepared the report represent 40 different countries.
However, more than 2,300 scientists were involved in the process for the panel which is made up of 113 countries.
The Kyoto Protocol is the main plan in place to help cap emissions of greenhouse gases until 2012; however, it has been weakened by the pull out of the U.S. -- the top contributor to greenhouse gases.
With files from The Associated Press and The Canadian Press
sigh...
even today, the one editorial in the FP discussing this said: ICCP isn't asking the right questions! maybe it's not our fault!
again, i say at this stage whose fault it is has almost become irrelevant, though it does quite clearly seem to be human-caused.
but the real issue (i know i sound like a broken record) is that it IS undeniably happening.
sigh... god(dess) help us all.
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