It is now indisputable fact that the Earth has warmed by 0.74°C over the last hundred years, with 0.4°C of this occurring since the 1970s and the majority of scientific bodies now agree that climate change is a genuine and major issue, possibly the greatest environmental challenge that modern civilisation has faced.
The latest report (the Fourth Assessment Report) from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) leaves little doubt that human activity is the main cause of these changes. At present more than 7 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide are emitted each year through global fossil fuel use, with a further 1.6 billion tonnes emitted by change in land use, mainly deforestation. The concentration of green house gases in the atmosphere has reached 430ppm CO2 equivalent – a level not seen for tens of thousands of years.
The Fourth Assessment Report from the IPCC states that mean global temperatures are likely to rise between 1.1°C and 6.4°C above 1990 levels by the end of this century, depending on our emissions. This increase in temperature will result in a further rise in world sea levels of between 20 and 60cm, also by the end of the century. Ice caps, glaciers and sea ice will continue to melt, rainfall patterns will change and tropical cyclones will intensify. Across the globe there will be more extreme heat waves, droughts and flooding. Food shortages as arable land becomes unusable and the spread of diseases such as malaria are frequently predicted. There could be severe water shortages as well, with groundwater suffering from salination as sea levels rise.
Governments, businesses and individuals all need to act together to secure our future on the planet.
Sources:
• UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs – DEFRA
• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – IPCC
• ‘Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change’ – Sir Nicholas Stern, Head of the UK Government Economic Service, October 2006
• US National Center for Atmospheric Research - NCAR
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