The IPCC, the UN body responsible for collating
climate data and research, which comprises 640 of the worlds’ top scientists
from across 40 countries, states in its fifth assessment report that the
warming of the climate is unequivacol.
The
temperatures in our atmosphere have increased, the
oceans have warmed, snow and ice have diminished,
sea levels are rising and the concentrations of greenhouse
gases have increased. None of these things is in any doubt.
All are born out, repeatedly, by extensive scientific research by the very best
people in their field.
And human influence on the climate, which has lead
to these changes, is evidenced by steep rises of carbon dioxide, methane and
nitrous oxide in the atmosphere – a result of the industrialization of richer
nations. In other words, when we started to burn fossil fuels, mechanise
agriculture and chop trees down, we, humans, started to change the climate.
So
the foremost climate scientists in the world agree, to a ‘very high level of
confidence’ (that means they are at least 95% certain of the causes and
outcomes of climate change), that climate change is happening
and the effects of climate change will be catastrophic.
Just think about that 95% statistic for a moment. If
you are a parent and 640 of the worlds’ most respected doctors told you your
child had a 95% chance of getting cancer, what would you do? Ignore
it and hope for the best? Hope that technology and innovation at a later date
would save the day? Hope they were wrong?
