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Global warming
It's seriously depressing when a pessimist like me turns out to have been too optimistic...
Here's what a warmer world means in practical terms.
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article2211566.ece
Note that this is the range of temperature rises that we may see this century.
Here's the cruncy bits:
Main points of the IPCC report
* "Best guesses" are that the global temperature will rise by 1.8C to 4C over the next century,depending on the level of the world's population and industrial activity. These are global averages and the local figures would be higher in high latitudes, such as Britain.
* Worst-case scenario is that with high fossil fuel use and strong economic growth, rise could be 6.4C, again, with higher rises nearer the poles.
* Stabilising CO2 levels in the atmosphere at 550ppm - which some experts think the world should aim at - would itself probably mean a rise of 3C, and possibly 4.5C.
* Temperatures in the next two decades are likely to rise by 0.2C per decade.
* Sea-level rise worst case scenario is 59cm by 2100, less than predicted in 2001, but this might be much higher when climate system feedbacks are factored in, and ice discharge from Greenland and Antarctica rises.
* That global climate change is occurring is "unequivocal."
* That human beings are responsible for it is "at least a nine out of 10 chance".
Here's what a warmer world means in practical terms.
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article2211566.ece
Note that this is the range of temperature rises that we may see this century.
Here's the cruncy bits:
Main points of the IPCC report
* "Best guesses" are that the global temperature will rise by 1.8C to 4C over the next century,depending on the level of the world's population and industrial activity. These are global averages and the local figures would be higher in high latitudes, such as Britain.
* Worst-case scenario is that with high fossil fuel use and strong economic growth, rise could be 6.4C, again, with higher rises nearer the poles.
* Stabilising CO2 levels in the atmosphere at 550ppm - which some experts think the world should aim at - would itself probably mean a rise of 3C, and possibly 4.5C.
* Temperatures in the next two decades are likely to rise by 0.2C per decade.
* Sea-level rise worst case scenario is 59cm by 2100, less than predicted in 2001, but this might be much higher when climate system feedbacks are factored in, and ice discharge from Greenland and Antarctica rises.
* That global climate change is occurring is "unequivocal."
* That human beings are responsible for it is "at least a nine out of 10 chance".