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 and others are issuing much stronger warnings as described for example in:

• World needs to stabilise population and cut consumption, says Royal Society (The Guardian, 2012-04-26).
• Governments failing to avert catastrophic climate change, IEA warns (The Guardian, 2012-04-25). See also We can have safe, sustainable energy (The Guardian, Maria van der Hoeven, IEA, 2012-04-24).
• Climate change panel warns of severe storms, heatwaves and floods (The Guardian, 2012-03-28).
• Climate change will shake the Earth (The Guardian, Bill McGuire, 2012-02-26).
• Cost of natural disasters spiralled in 2011 (New Scientist, 2012-01-11). (click on image to enlarge it).
• Extreme weather will strike as climate change takes hold, IPCC warns (The Guardian, 2011-11-18).
• Major storms could submerge New York City in next decade (The Guardian, 2011-11-16).
• Global warming: two centuries in two minutes (The Guardian, 2011-11-15).
• Al Gore: clear proof that climate change causes extreme weather (The Guardian, 2011-09-28).
• Climate change: an eye on the storms (The Guardian, Andrew Simms, 2011-09-01).
• Models guiding climate policy are 'dangerously optimistic' (The Guardian, 2011-02-24).
• Melting of the Arctic 'will accelerate climate change within 20 years' (The Independent, 2011-05-30).
• Australia Climate Commission says warming risk is real (BBC News, 2011-05-23).
• US military goes to war with climate sceptics (The Guardian, 2011-05-20).
• Beyond ‘dangerous’ climate change: emission scenarios for a new world (Kevin Anderson and Alice Bows, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, 369 (1934), 20-44, 2011; doi: 10.1098/rsta.2010.0290). "The analysis suggests that despite high-level statements to the contrary, there is now little to no chance of maintaining the global mean surface temperature at or below 2°C. Moreover, the impacts associated with 2°C have been revised upwards, sufficiently so that 2°C now more appropriately represents the threshold between ‘dangerous’ and ‘extremely dangerous’ climate change."
• Thermogeddon: when the Earth gets too hot for humans (New Scientist, 2010-10-26).
• Greenland ice sheet faces 'tipping point in 10 years' (The Guardian, 2010-08-10). Loss of ice sheet would mean a rise in global sea levels of 7 metres.
• Climate change report sets out an apocalyptic vision of Britain (The Times, 2010-02-26).
• The Copenhagen Diagnosis (report from the Climate Change Research Centre at the University of New South Wales, Australia, November 2009).
• Global temperatures could rise 6C by end of century, say scientists (The Guardian, 2009-11-17).
• 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).

See also: A scientist replies to Christopher Monckton, Abraham v Monckton. An effective rebuttal of inaccurate information spread by a leading climate sceptic.

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."