Is the New UN Global Warming Report Too Conservative?
by Brett Clark and John Bellamy Foster
There is now a strong consensus among climate scientists that human activities are the primary forces responsible for the observed warming of the earth’s atmosphere. The recently released fourth assessment report, Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis, of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) notes that warming is “unequivocal” and human activities are the cause. Global average temperature has risen by 0.74°C (1.3°F) since 1906. The IPCC projects a further increase of 0.4°C (0.7°F) in warming during the next two decades, and an increase (best estimate) of 1.8-4.0°C (3.3-7.1°F) in global average temperature during this century.
Not surprisingly, this new report, which was the product of hundreds of scientists (150 lead authors with 450 contributing authors) and had to be unanimously approved by 154 governments, including the United States and other major oil-producing countries, is shrouded in controversy. However, rather than arising from global warming naysayers, the principal challenge to the report this time comes from leading climatologists themselves, who view this new IPCC report as too conservative, underestimating the risks of global climate change.
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