Editorial
Latest on global warming
The heat is on
The verdict is in. We humans are causing global warming very substantially, and the temperature is set to rise another 0.3 – 4.8 degrees Celsius by the end of the 21st century. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) unveiled these dismal facts in the 1st volume of its exhaustive work in Stockholm on September 27. Should things remain "business as usual", then we are looking at a rise in sea levels of anywhere between 26-82centimeters by 2100.
With a 95 per cent probability of such events taking place, it is high time global policymakers woke up to the new realities as far as their actions are concerned. The last report of the group published in 2007 should have been a wake up call for the global community. It wasn't. This time round, IPCC's indicators clearly point to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as the main culprit for global warming. To put all this in perspective, were the planet's temperature to actually rise by 4.8 degrees Celsius, it would play havoc with our ecosystem. Heat waves would occur for longer periods bringing about droughts, and the increased risk of flooding could not be ruled out.
Little wonder that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon went on record citing the report as "essential" for governments around the world to start working out seriously on a global agreement to cut GHG by 2015.
Without sounding alarmist though, experts stressed on the need for evolving cheaper green energy options. If those are provided, people would switch over to such alternatives from the conventional energy sources. And that could help a good deal in mitigating the damaging prospects that loom.
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