Global climate change

Two letters in last week’s Village News decry Global Warming as a Hoax. I believe that’s an example of people’s opinion’s being formed by what news channel they watch or what political commentator they listen to.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, established in 1988 by two organizations, the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Program, published these conclusions:

More than 50% of the observed increase in globally averaged temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely (confidence level >90%) due to the observed increase in anthropogenic (human) greenhouse gas concentrations.

World temperatures could rise by between 1.1 and 6.4 °C (2.0 and 11.5 °F) during the 21st century and that:

Sea levels will probably rise by 18 to 59 cm (7.08 to 23.22 in).

There is a confidence level of >90% that there will be more frequent warm spells, heat waves and heavy rainfall.

There is a confidence level >66% that there will be an increase in methane, and There is a confidence level >66% that there will be an increase in

droughts, tropical cyclones and extreme high tides .

Both past and future anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions will continue to contribute to warming and sea level rise for more than a millennium.

Global atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide have increased markedly as a result of human activities since 1750 and now far exceed pre-industrial values over the last 650,000 years.

The few “scientific” papers that dispute these findings have mostly been funded by corporations and lobbying groups with vested interests, much as the “scientific” papers that reported no link between cigarette smoking and lung cancer were funded by the tobacco companies.

Even President Bush has reluctantly had to admit to the Inconvenient Truth and has proposed governmental actions to address the problem.

Jon Monday