Dr. Rajendra K. Pachauri, Chaiman of the IPCC, addresses the
International Scientific Congress on Climate Change. (ISCCC)
See our slideshow for more photos from the event.
The International Scientific Congress on Climate Change, a gathering of climate change experts, completed its three day event Thursday and with it issued dire warnings for the world. Held at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, the findings from the meeting will be presented to policy makers in December at the next gathering of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Featuring many of the larger names in the global warming movement including Dr. James Hansen of NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Studies (see slideshow below), the scientists’ issued a desperate plea for immediate action on climate change. Dire predictions of rising sea levels, social unrest, and war were hoped to spur the globe’s governments into action as the group said ‘inaction is inexcusable.’
See our slideshow for photos from the event.
Hundreds of millions of people would have to move, probably billions. What would be the implication of that? Extended conflict, social disruption, war essentially, over much of the world for many decades.
- Lord Nicholas Stern on the effects of global warming
In the opening session Lord Nicholas Stern, former chief economist for the World Bank, warned that current conditions are far worse than estimates from the IPCC’s 2007 report. He said, "The reason is that emissions are growing faster than we thought, the absorption capacity of the planet is less than we thought, the probability of high temperatures is likely higher than we thought, and some of the effects are coming faster than we thought." Stern called on the nation’s of the world to provide an additional $400 billion of funding as part of the global stimulus package.
The worst-case IPCC scenario trajectories (or even worse) are being realized.
- Key message from the ISCCC
A final report from the gathering is due in June but a preliminary list of key messages was released outlining the scientists’ concerns. The first message on climactic trends was perhaps the most stark and alarming. The warning said:
Recent observations confirm that, given high rates of observed emissions, the worst-case IPCC scenario trajectories (or even worse) are being realised. For many key parameters, the climate system is already moving beyond the patterns of natural variability within which our society and economy have developed and thrived. These parameters include global mean surface temperature, sea-level rise, ocean and ice sheet dynamics, ocean acidification, and extreme climatic events. There is a significant risk that many of the trends will accelerate, leading to an increasing risk of abrupt or irreversible climatic shifts.
Among the other conclusions, they warned that temperature rises of only 2 degrees Celsius will increase disruption and will be hard for societies across the globe to cope with. Poorer nations are particularly at risk. Scientists cautioned that delaying action or the lowering of goals is not an option. “Rapid, sustained, and effective mitigation based on coordinated global and regional action is required to avoid ‘dangerous climate change’.” Continuing, the group said that climate saving measures must be vigorously and widely implemented to achieve the societal transformation required to decarbonize economies.”
This past week featured dueling climate change conferences. Just prior to the International Scientific Congress on Climate Change, a gathering of climate change skeptics occurred in New York. The International Conference on Climate Change featured presentations from Vaclav Klaus, president of the Czech Republic, Dr. Richard Lindzen of MIT and Astronaut Harrison Schmitt, all doubters of the anthropogenic global warming theory.
Prince Charles: World at a ‘defining moment’ over global warming
Battle of the climate scientists redux – Gray and Theon fire at Hansen
John Kerry: No action on climate change is a ‘suicide pact’
Astronaut Harrison Schmitt: Climate change alarmists ‘intentionally mislead’
Comments
not... I call b*llsh!t
There was a time in the earth's history when Greenland was actually green. The earth cooled and Greenland got cold and icy. It was also a time when there were no cars, trucks, power plants, etc, etc. So, what caused the warming?
The current fiasco about global warming is that it is caused by people. If that's the case, maybe Greenland will soon be green again. Isn't that the goal of the global alarmists, going green?
And, if man, which exhales carbon dioxide on a regular basis until one dies, is the real cause of global warming, why can't the alarmists make the ultimate contribution to save the world and DROP DEAD?
What is the scientific evidence, the proof, that more CO2 will force temperature ever higher? All I've been able to find is the results of so-called climate models and, currently, global the global temperature anomaly is two standard deviations below the model predictions and moving further away in the downward direction.
First, as someone who was in Copenhagen last week, thanks for the clear insight and straight talk in this most difficult story.
There is true scientific agreement, but with such difficult news to deliver, I understand that many find it too painful to believe.
I personally think that if we can stare the hard news in the face, we can grieve together the loss of our beautiful imagined future and then get to work on creating the best one we can manage. A bit like facing the loss from a divorce before you can build the next stage of your life.
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