Humans need to curb contribution to global warming

The IPCC notes again that climate change is unequivocal so the question becomes what will be done to restrain its impacts, writes David Biello.

GLOBAL warming is “unequivocal”. Sea levels are creeping up at the fastest rate in 2,000 years. Concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere have reached “levels unprecedented in at least the last 800,000 years” (or before modern humans evolved). Most importantly, “human influence on the climate system is clear” and “continued emissions of greenhouse gases will cause further warming”. Those are some of the key messages in the Summary for Policymakers of the physical science of global warming from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released yesterday.

“The planet is red” in a global map of the change in average surface temperatures, noted Swiss climate scientist Thomas Stocker, co-chair of IPCC Working Group I responsible for this summary at a press conference. “The world is warming.”