THE THREATS OF CLIMATE CHANGE

Much of what is written about climate change gives the impression that it will lead to a few more floods, droughts and hurricanes, that changes will be very slow and, for people living in cold climates, it could mean some nice warm weather. It is also often suggested that climate change will mainly affect poor people and this, regrettably, may lead some of the richer people to conclude that they need not worry.

The real threats of climate change are much more serious than how they have been described until recently. Now climate scientists are issuing much stronger warnings as described for example in:

UK climate change policies 'dangerously optimistic', MPs warned (The Guardian, 2009-06-23).
Climate impact report says 800,000 homes will be at risk of flooding (The Times, 2009-06-18).
Global warming must stay below 2C or world faces ruin, scientists declare (The Times, 2009-05-28).
Climate change odds much worse than thought (MIT News, 2009-05-19).
Arctic meltdown is a threat to humanity (New Scientist, 2009-03-28).
Plan B: scientists get radical in bid to halt global warming ‘catastrophe’ (The Sunday Times, 2009-03-15).
Stern attacks politicians over climate 'devastation' (The Guardian, 2009-03-13. See also The Times, The Independent, and the Daily Telegraph).
Carbon cuts 'only give 50/50 chance of saving planet' (The Independent, 2009-03-09).
Scientists to issue stark warning over dramatic new sea level figures (The Observer, 2009-03-08).
How to survive the coming century (New Scientist, 2009-02-25). See also The time has come to re-engineer the planet (New Scientist, 2009-02-25).

The Royal Society has published a Guide to facts and fictions about climate change (275 Kb PDF, 2005-03-09), correcting disinformation about climate change that has been energetically spread about by lobby groups funded by ExxonMobile and other purveyors of fossil fuels.

The World Resources Institute has reviewed discoveries about the world's climate in scientific papers published in 2005. "Taken collectively, they suggest that the world may well have moved past a key physical tipping point."

James Hansen of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies writes that Huge sea level rises are coming—unless we act now (see also Environmental Research Letters 2, 2007).

There are also two sobering reports by the BBC: "Greenland ice swells ocean rise" and "Siberia's rapid thaw causes alarm", and an article on the latter subject from the Guardian: "Warming hits 'tipping point'".

Here are some other articles on the same theme:

And George Monbiot on biased reporting in the media (April 2004).

For more information: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Guardian Special Report on Climate Change (2003), BBC pages on 'Gobal Warning'.

Last updated: 2009-06-24 (ISO 8601)