[MCN] Science 27 Sep 2019: "...greater threats to life and human society than scientists had ..."

[Lance Olsen]

Science  27 Sep 2019:
DOI: 10.1126/science.365.6460.1359
Warming transforms the oceans and poles
Paul Voosen

Summary
The world's oceans and ice caps are being transformed by climate change, posing greater threats to life and human society than scientists had realized, according to a special assessment of climate science focused on oceans and ice, released by the United Nations. The new report, from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, stresses that the watery parts of the planet are already entering a new state. Melt from the Antarctic is posing a greater threat this century than previously thought, and thawing permafrost is hounded by uncertainties over how much carbon it will release to the atmosphere, and how fast. The ocean is changing in structure and chemistry while heat waves increasingly strike its inhabitants. Although no amount of action now can stop some sea level rise, the worst of these effects can still be held off by cutting carbon emissions, the report says.


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"No one wanted to pay attention to the implications of a world four degrees warmer… It's too horrendous to think about.  And no one talked about it. 

"Then a few scientists said let's have a conference and actually talk about it. They held this conference in Oxford and I went along. 

"As the conference started, there was a kind of suppressed emotional intensity, except in the coffee breaks. It was then that I would buttonhole a couple of scientists and say: 'Well, you know we're speculating about this. But what do you really think is the situation?' And one of them just looked at me and said: 'We're f--ked.'" — Clive Hamilton 
 
Paul Kennedy. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Thursday September 07, 2017
http://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/are-we-f-ked-decoding-the-resistance-to-climate-change-1.4277614



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