It's Not our Fault, it's your fault for bringing it up!

by clorenz1 | February 2, 2007 at 02:05 pm

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As you probably heard today the United Nations released its report on climate change. What amazes me is not so much what the report tells the world, its what will come and continue to come in the form of arguments aimed at discrediting this body of work. Anyone who has looked into environmental issues whether on a local or global level knows the reality, it is unarguable that humans are having a drastic effect on how the ecological world is sustaining itself. However, in the coming weeks the spin will be on, a exodus from the wood work, talking heads tripping over themselves to scream out, "It's not our fault! It's not our fault! The world would have poured chemicals into its water, pumped cancer into its skies, and committed mass genocide against its animal kingdom. It's not our fault!"

Well, guess what, it is our fault. The issue of climate change is a small drop in bucket, regarding our natural world. And it is time to step up to the plate, take our medicine, and change the way we live life. Everyone can do something, either big or small, myself included. I just don't want to hear that I am crazy for doing something about it!

For years, global warming was dismissed as an apocalyptic vision dreamt up by cranks and hippies. But recently consensus has been growing that the climate is indeed changing and humans are directly responsible. Now the United Nations has concluded that humans are almost certainly responsible for global warming and issued its strongest-ever warning about the consequences.

"It's a disaster for coastal communities because of projected sea level rise of anywhere between 0.18 and 0.59 metres."

She said the IPCC report was very conservative. "Our own scientists have come out ... saying the IPCC is likely to underestimate its sea level rise because it hasn't taken into account the latest science on the glacial melt, particularly in the Antarctic."

The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF), the Climate Institute and the CSIRO joined Senator Milne in saying the IPCC report had ended the debate on whether global warming was happening.

The most definitive climate science report to date was released today in Paris, underscoring the urgency to act here in Washington, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). The consensus report amplifies warnings that have been coming for some time, and suggests costly and difficult problems if steps are not taken soon to prevent them.

The Fourth Assessment by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reflects the consensus views of hundreds of the world’s preeminent climate scientists who rigorously reviewed and synthesized vast amounts of the latest research to produce this initial summary report. The report notes, among other findings, that:

    Most of the observed increase in globally averaged temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to increases in heat-trapping pollution in the atmosphere.

    Without action to curb global warming pollution it is very likely that heat waves and heavy precipitation events will continue to become more frequent and hurricanes are likely to become more intense.