Climate Change

This week, the IPCC report on climate change was released at a meeting in Paris, France where it "concluded that it is very likely (90% certain) that the build up of heat-trapping GHG emissions is responsible for irreversible global warming. Temperatures will continue to rise by 3.2 to 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century, which will cause sea level rises of 7 to 23 inches – or 21 feet, if Greenland’s ice sheets melt – and more intense tropical storms and hurricanes. Other predictions include hotter days, warmer nights and extended droughts. Climate change is expected to create hundreds of millions of permanently displaced refugees".
After the IPCC report’s release on Friday, French President Jacques Chirac called for a new world environmental body to co-ordinate efforts to mitigate climate change through binding agreements to reduce GHG emissions, among other methods. He also suggested that the agreements should be enforced and violators punished.
Although the US approved the document in the end, the Bush administration criticized the IPCC report on the grounds that it “tends to overstate or focus on the negative effects of climate change.” The US lobbied hard for the language of the report to be watered down to minimize the role of GHG emissions in climate change and the role of global warming in changes such as the intensification of hurricanes. The US also objects to the IPCC’s position that one of the fundamental weaknesses of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol has been its non-ratification by major GHG emitters such as the US. The Bush administration withdrew from Kyoto in 2001, citing the lack of limits for developing economies such as China and India, also major GHG polluters.
On Friday, the Bush administration played down the status of the US as the world’s No. 1 polluter, responsible for 25% of all GHG emissions. “We are a small contributor when you look at the rest of the world,” said US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman. He confirmed that President Bush remains opposed to capping emissions in the US."1

"The European Union describes the report as the starkest warning yet, and Britain says climate change threatens world peace and prosperity.
The United States, which produces about a quarter of the world's greenhouse gases, has described the report as valuable. However, the White House has again expressed its opposition to compulsory caps on greenhouse gas emissions."2

Climate changes have already been linked to dying Polar Bear populations as Sea Ice is melting more rapidly, which they use for migratory hunting patterns. Polar Bears have been found dead from lack of food and some have even drown from having to swim too far where there is a lack of ice. Environmental change is so important right now, today. Hopefully in the future we will see more of this:

and less of this:


To learn more about Climate change go here or here.