As was largely expected The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have announced that man is to blame for climate change. According to Reuters “The scientists said it was ‘very likely’ - or a probability of more than 90% - that human activities led by burning fossil fuels explained most of the warming in the past 50 years”. Apparently, there were discussions amongst the group of scientists whether the published probability should have been 99%.
Scientists have estimated that there will be a 1.8 to 4.0 degree celsius rise in temperatures (presumably earth temperature) during the 21st century along with a rise in sea levels of between 18 and 59 centimetres! Of course, this is a prediction and does not take into account any man-made change or natural events that may occur in the future.
The media have jumped on these findings, and aside from Tony Blair’s cash for honours, climate change should be the big news story of the week. One thing that has come out of the reports though is that apparently David Bellamy doesn’t agree with the idea that man is to blame for climate change.
According to an interview in The Times, Bellamy “has dismissed the imminent demise of the planet under a tidal wave of melted polar ice caps as ‘poppycock’.” The interview is well worth a read, however today’s report from The IPCC may well push opinions from those who disbelieve that climate change is man made to the fringes of scientific debate.
