"It's Later Than We Think"

Drum Roll Please: the release of the Paris report, in which two thousand international scientists came to unanimous conclusions about the environment, states that Global Warming is "very likely" the result of human activity. Will this finally be the death of the "warming trend"??

From the CBC:

"It is critical that we look at this report … as a moment where the focus of attention will shift from whether climate change is linked to human activity, whether the science is sufficient, to what on earth are we going to do about it," said Achim Steiner, the executive director of the UN Environment Program.

U.S. government scientist Susan Solomon says 'there can be no question' that human activity is the cause of increased greenhouse gases.

"The public should not sit back and say 'There's nothing we can do,'" Steiner said. "Anyone who would continue to risk inaction on the basis of the evidence presented here will one day in the history books be considered irresponsible."

The 21-page summary of the panel's findings released Friday said climate changes are "very likely" caused by human activity, a phrase that translates to a more than 90 per cent certainty that global warming is caused by the burning of fossil fuels.

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."

It was the strongest conclusion to date, making it virtually impossible to blame natural forces for global warming, according to the authors.

International scientists and officials hailed a UN report Friday that said human activity was "very likely" the cause of global warming and that higher temperatures and rising sea levels would continue for centuries, regardless of reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

"It is critical that we look at this report … as a moment where the focus of attention will shift from whether climate change is linked to human activity, whether the science is sufficient, to what on earth are we going to do about it," said Achim Steiner, the executive director of the UN Environment Program.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change — consisting of hundreds of scientists and representatives of 113 governments — said global observations of air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of ice sheets, rises in sea level as well as regional changes in precipitation,wind patterns and extreme weather all point to a shift in the world's climate.

People 'can make a difference'

The report said global warming and a rising sea level will continue for centuries, even if greenhouse gas emissions are slowed or reduced.

"We're locked into a temperature increase of about 0.5 degrees by 2025 regardless of what we do, but the increases start to diverge depending on the levels of emissions when you look a hundred years from now," said Fyfe, one of four Canadian scientists involved in the report who spoke in Ottawa Friday morning.

"So what we do now can make a difference," he said. Temperature increases of 1.8 to 4 C by 2100 The panel predicted average temperature increases of 1.8 to four degrees by the year 2100. That was a wider range than in the 2001 report.

On sea levels, the report projects a rise of 17.8 centimetres to 58.4 centimetres by the end of the century. An additional rise between 9.9 to 19.8 centimetres is possible if the recent, surprising melting of polar ice sheets continues.

Canada would be among the countries to see disproportionately high temperatures changes — perhaps enough to keep the Arctic ice-free in summer. Canadian Environment Minister John Baird said after the report's release that global warning required "real action," while Prime Minister Stephen Harper acknowledged it was an "enormous" problem, but said any solutions would be long term.

Need to stop using economy as bottom line

David Suzuki, well-known environmentalist and host of the CBC's The Nature of Things, said from Halifax on Friday the evidence has been "a long time in coming."

'I would say that we are in a state of crisis, that it's the equivalent of a hundred Pearl Harbors going off at once in the environment.'

"Scientists have been conservative and cautious, now I think they've thrown that caution out," he said. Peter Brown, a professor of philosophy at the McGill School of Environment, said he hopes the sobering news will lead to a change not just in carbon emissions, but in how the world economy functions. "What the report shows me is a very deep paradigm shift is needed," he told CBC News Online.

"We need to move away from a model where economic growth is the only indicator of success."

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, created by the UN in 1988, releases its assessments every five or six years, and is used as a major source of information for government policy makers. The summary is the first of four major reports expected this year. The second report on April 6 will detail the impacts of global warming and focus on vulnerable regions, while the third report on May 4 will look at ways policy makers and scientists might mitigate climate change. A final report released on November 17 will synthesize the work of the previous three reports.

So how does this report effect us here in Canada? Hotter, drier summers with stronger storms and milder winter with more rain (not snow, rain). Of course, this report comes out in the middle of a nasty cold snap, so what is the general consensus? SWEET!

In Chris Cobb's article in today's Free Press, Climate Change Poses Challenges for Canada, he states that Canadians need to "shed themselves of the complacency that comes with living in a land of plenty. In fact, living in a country with apparent infinite natural resources makes us vulnerable."

Yes, golfing the weekend before Christmas is fun and I personally am procrastinating hitting the gym right now because I don't want to face the windchill. A longer growing season is also beneficial to farmers. But what about other parts of the world where nothing grows, where the rising sea levels wipe-out coastlines?

"How are we going to deal with people who can no longer live where they are? You can adapt to certain changes in lifestyle but you can't adapt to living under water, so if the sea level goes up a metre in Bangladesh, where do you put those hundred million people? In China? Or do we take them in Canada?"

Most pressing of all is our abundant supply of fresh water in Canada, which in fact makes us vulnerable:

"Canada is a land of fresh water but if you're in the sub-tropics, as in the central U.S. and south of there, you're going to get less rain, increased drought and you're going to want more water," Weaver said. "So where will they get it from? From us of course and we're quite incapable of stopping them."

What gives this report more of a chance to make a difference in the minds of everyday individuals is the fact that it IS conservative, despite the striking conclusions.

Insert funny/scary story: I was over at my Aunt's the other week for supper, and she told me that, whenever environmental issues come up, a fellow at her work scoffed "Global warming. All those environmental people just want you to believe in it just to get your money." Yep, there's a lot of money to be earned saving the environment. All those not-for-profit agencies ... AAHHHHH!

The report comes from the research of two thousands of the world's top scientists, researchers and fact checkers. EVERY SINGLE WORD of the report had be agreed upon "and it isn't easy to get agreement among scientists because they're very conservative people."

But it IS possible to cut emissions and to be a good global citizens. That is what I constantly try to do with my blog: provide resources and easy things that we can all do everyday to make the world a better place. Watch the video in my last post and take the Nature Challenge to get started!