IPCC 4th Assessment Report (SPM) is Out!

The summary for policy makers (SPM) of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) 4th Assessment Report is now out. You can check out the SPM here. I think it's bound to start another round of controversy between the Cassandras and the Dorothys.

For example, there's this news in The Guardian that, “scientists offered cash to dispute climate study.” The blogosphere is already buzzing with interpretations of the SPM. Here's one from RealClimate.org:

“First of all, given the science that has been done since the Third Assessment Report (“TAR”) of 2001 - much of which has been discussed here - no one should be surprised that AR4 comes to a stronger conclusion. In particular, the report concludes that human influences on climate are 'very likely' (> 90% chance) already detectable in observational record; increased from 'likely' (> 66% chance) in the TAR. Key results here include the simulations for the 20th Century by the latest state-of-the-art climate models which demonstrate that recent trends cannot be explained without including human-related increases in greenhouse gases, and consistent evidence for ocean heating, sea ice melting, glacier melting and ecosystem shifts. This makes the projections of larger continued changes 'in the pipeline' (particularly under “business as usual” scenarios) essentially indisputable.”

And here's a more gloomy reporting from Guardian Unlimited:

“The authors have reached some pretty depressing conclusions: that human activity has contributed to climate change, and that even if we change our behaviour today, the planet will become a more dangerous place.”

Since the media will have different interpretations of the IPCC report due to political bias or plain ignorance, it would be hard for lay people (like me) to get an accurate understanding. Even if I read the IPCC report myself, a lot of the language, terminology, and scientific studies cross-referenced in the report will be alien language to me because I'm no expert. That's why I'd still depend on “experts” to interpret the report. Hopefully, the experts I would turn to will have less bias. And that's where the element of trust and certain “beliefs” will kick in.

But when everything is said and done about Climate Change, I'd still stick to my own gut feel: to treat Climate Change “as if” it's a myth.

So what do you think? Feel free to discuss.

In other related news, Al Gore has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and his film may also win an Oscar. Nice.

Re: IPCC 4th Assessment Report (SPM) is Out!

EFFORT is indeed the only solution - but MIND-SET has to change before this can happen.

I was trained as a meteorologist as well as an air traffic controller - before we had any concept about plate tectonics & its effect on climate change - and used to fly Pan American over the pole to San Francisco well before I regularly started flying to the West Coast via Iceland, Greenland, Saskatchuen & the Rockies. My own personal experience of these journeys was that the ice was melting at an increasingly rapid rate before the IPCC published their 1st Report.

Anyone who has any doubts about the issues/problems HOMO SAPIENS faces - including climate change - can do no better than read Colin Mason's perspective and his proposed solutions.

From my own perspective I can not say more than - just add water - because we sure as hell won't be running out of that for some time to come !

Re: IPCC 4th Assessment Report (SPM) is Out!

Perhaps the inconvenient truth is that - the vast majority of Nobel Prize winners live in Geneva & that Al Gore has aspirations to do so as well ?