|
About | Contact | Mongabay on Facebook | Mongabay on Twitter | Subscribe |
|
|
Climate change is a "threat to society" says largest scientific body mongabay.com February 18, 2007
Meeting in San Francisco at its annual conference, AAAS released a statement confirming that "global climate change caused by human activities is occurring now, and it is a growing threat to society." Noting that the present atmospheric carbon-dioxide level is higher than it has been for at least 650,000 years, AAAS said "the average temperature of the Earth is heading for levels not experienced for millions of years." "Scientists are observing rapid melting of glaciers, destabilization of major ice sheets, rising sea levels, shifts in species ranges, and increased frequency of weather extremes," AAAS President John P. Holdren wrote. "As droughts, heat waves, floods, wildfires, and severe storms intensify, damages to ecosystems and human society are growing apace." To highlight the risk of climate change, AAAS invited seven members from the community of Shishmaref, Alaska, to demonstrate the impact of warmer temperatures on their 4,000-year-old Inupiaq village. The group aired a video that showed beach erosion and thinning ice.
Tocktoo added that the hunting and fishing seasons have shifted and that residents are seeking government funds to relocate the village. AAAS followed up the release of the statement with a "town hall" meeting for the general public. The organization said it was expecting 1,000 K-12 teachers, students, scientists, and others to take part in the gathering. Founded in 1848, AAAS is the world's largest general scientific society, and publisher of the journal, Science. The society serves 262 affiliated societies and academies of science, and reaches 10 million individuals. The IPCC report was released in Paris February 2, 2007. It said that said global warming was "very likely" -- with a greater than 90 percent level of confidence -- caused by human activity, specifically man's burning of fossil fuels. The report made it clear that most of the currently observed global warming is not natural. The panel predicted temperature rises of 1.8-4.0 degrees C (3.2-7.2 degrees Fahrenheit) by the year 2100 and sea level rise of 18-58 cm (7-23 inches) by the end of the century. Should polar ice sheets continue to melt, oceans could rise by a further 8-20 cm (3.9-7.8 inches), said the report. This article is based on a news release from AAAS and used information from previous mongabay.com articles. Comments? News options
Tags: climate science climate change IPCC earth science green News index | RSS | News Feed | Twitter | Home Advertisements: Organic Apparel from Patagonia | Insect-repelling clothing
|
WEEKLY NEWSLETTER 
Photos HIGH RESOLUTION PHOTOS / PRINTS 
CALENDARS 
CANVAS BAGS 
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Copyright mongabay 2010 Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions generated from mongabay.com operations (server, data transfer, travel) are mitigated through an association with Anthrotect, an organization working with Afro-indigenous and Embera communities to protect forests in Colombia's Darien region. Anthrotect is protecting the habitat of mongabay's mascot: the scale-crested pygmy tyrant. |
