The new Global Warming Report

A new report came out today, some of the main points that it covered are:
"The international global warming conference approved a report Friday warning of dire threats to the Earth and to mankind — from increased hunger in Africa and Asia to the extinction of species — unless the world adapts to climate change and halts its progress.

Africa will be hardest hit, the report concluded. By 2020, up to 250 million people are likely to exposed to water shortages. In some countries, food production could fall by half, it said."

The report said up to 30 percent of the Earth’s species face an increased risk of vanishing if global temperatures rise 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit above the average in the 1980s and ’90s.

Areas that now suffer a shortage of rain will become even more dry, adding to the risks of hunger and disease, it said. The world will face heightened threats of flooding, severe storms and the erosion of coastlines.

“This is a glimpse into an apocalyptic future,” the Greenpeace environmental group said of the final report.

Without action to curb carbon emissions, man’s livable habitat will shrink starkly, said Stephen Schneider, a Stanford scientist who was one of the authors. “Don’t be poor in a hot country, don’t live in hurricane alley, watch out about being on the coasts or in the Arctic, and it’s a bad idea to be on high mountains with glaciers melting.”

“We can fix this,” by investing a small part of the world’s economic growth rate, said Schneider. “It’s trillions of dollars, but it’s a very trivial thing.”

North America will experience more severe storms with human and economic loss, and cultural and social disruptions. It can expect more hurricanes, floods, droughts, heat waves and wildfires, it said. Coasts will be swamped by rising sea levels. In the short term, crop yields may increase by 5 to 20 percent from a longer growing season, but will plummet if temperatures rise by 7.2 F.

Parts of Asia are threatened with massive flooding and avalanches from melting Himalayan glaciers. Europe also will see its Alpine glaciers disappear. Australia’s Great Barrier Reef will lose much of its coral to bleaching from even moderate increases in sea temperatures, the report said.


But what's intriguing is how the report was hashed out, and how it has frustrated so much of the scientific community:

"Agreement (for the body of the report) came after an all-night session during which key sections were deleted from the draft and scientists angrily confronted government negotiators who they feared were watering down their findings."

"Several scientists objected to the editing of the final draft by government negotiators but in the end agreed to compromises. However, some scientists vowed never to take part in the process again.

The climax of five days of negotiations was reached when the delegates removed parts of a key chart highlighting devastating effects of climate change that kick in with every rise of 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit, and in a tussle over the level of scientific reliability attached to key statements."

Well, it's certainly nice to know that our governments are looking out for our best interests. I can't even imagine what they chose to leave out.

"The United States, China and Saudi Arabia raised the many of the objections to the phrasing, often seeking to tone down the certainty of some of the more dire projections."

yeaaaap.... yeeap.............I am literally speechless.

“Doing nothing is not an option.”