Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
you visit Florida, you will travel in boats over much of the
area where people now live. If you live in the temperate-
zone farm belt, you will be growing bananas rather than
wheat. If you live anywhere you will worry about the
movement north of the diseases and insects that now are
in the hotter zones nearer to the equator. More detail is in
the report of the IPCC Working Group II,
“
Impacts,
You should also note that
the actual rate of increase in greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere is even faster than that used in the RPC
Adaptation and Vulnerability.
”
.
scenario.
Before moving on, I want to leave you with a word of
warning. There are still some who claim that global
warming is some kind of hoax or conspiracy by the science
community. There is little use in getting into an argument
with them because they will not listen. The Summary for
Policymakers in the
Warming
of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident
from observations of increases in global average air and
ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice,
and rising global average sea level.
IPCC report begins:
“
”
It goes on to say,
“
Most of the observed increase in globally averaged tem-
peratures since the mid-
th century is very likely due to
the observed increase in anthropogenic GHG concentra-
tions.
Earlier I mentioned that the IPCC works by con-
sensus. Every line in a Summary for Policymakers is gone
over word by word with representatives of the signers of
the UNFCCC. The quote above has been agreed to by all
of the nations. This is a change in position by both the
United States and China from skepticism to agreement
”
