Trenton, NJ — Approximately 20 to 30 percent of plant and
animal species are at increasing risk of extinction if the global average
temperature increases by another 2.2 to 4 degrees Fahrenheit, according to a
major consensus report released today by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC). The IPCC is a United
Nations body charged with assessing the scientific record on global warming.
“More
droughts, floods, forest fires, and heat waves are in store for us and for future
generations, unless we act boldly to reduce global warming pollution. This consensus report from the world’s
scientists should be a direct challenge to the state Legislature and the U.S.
Congress. It paints a clear and
disturbing picture of the consequences of failing to take serious action,” said
Doug O’Malley, field director for Environment New Jersey.
The panel concludes “with high confidence” that
human-caused warming over the last three decades “has had a discernible
influence on many physical and biological systems.” While the report warns of increasing
droughts, floods, heat waves, water stress, forest fires, and coastal flooding
in the U.S., it finds that “many impacts can be avoided, reduced, or delayed”
by quickly and significantly reducing global warming pollution.
Cars and power plants are the largest sources of U.S. global
warming pollution, but the U.S. could
reduce its emissions immediately using on-the-shelf technologies to improve
energy efficiency and shift to renewable energy sources.
Major findings of today’s report for North America include
the following:
- WATER
STRESS: “Warming in western mountains is projected to cause decreased
snowpack, more winter flooding, and reduced summer flows, exacerbating
competition for over-allocated water resources.”
- FOREST FIRES:
“Disturbances from pests, diseases, and fire are projected to have
increasing impacts on forests, with an extended period of high fire risk
and large increases in area burned.”
- HEAT WAVES:
Cities that currently experience heat waves are expected to face “an
increased number, intensity, and duration of heat waves,” threatening
people’s health, particularly that of elder Americans.
In addition, the report points to large-scale climate events that
have the potential to “cause very large impacts,” including the at least partial
deglaciation of the Greenland ice sheet, and possibly the West Antarctic ice
sheet, raising sea levels by 13 to 20 feet over centuries to millennia.
“This report makes clear that we are going down a
dangerous road. Fortunately, there is
still time to choose another direction—toward better energy efficiency and more
renewable energy. The state Legislature
and Congress should lead the way by passing strong legislation to reduce global
warming pollution enough to avoid the nightmare scenarios in this report,”
added O’Malley.
The New Jersey State Legislature is currently considering
the Global Warming Response Act, which will reduce emissions by 20% by 2020,
which is quickly garnering wide-spread support in the Legislature. The Safe
Climate Act, in the U.S. Congress, has received over 130 co-sponsors in the
U.S. Congress, was endorsed by former Vice President Al Gore during his
Congressional testimony and will reduce emissions by 20% by 2020 and by 80% by
2050.
The IPCC today released the Summary for Policymakers of the second volume of its Fourth
Assessment Report, entitled “Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability.” The
second volume synthesizes the peer-reviewed research on the current and
predicted impacts of global warming on human health, the environment, and
wildlife. Additional volumes, examining
options for reducing future warming and a final synthesis report, are due out
later this year. The full Fourth Assessment Report includes input from
more than 2,500 experts worldwide.
The IPCC was established by the United Nations
Environmental Program and the World Meteorological Organization in 1988 with a
mandate to assess the state of knowledge on global warming on a “comprehensive,
objective, open and transparent basis” and to generate documents that reflect a
consensus among those involved. In 1990, 1995, and 2001, the IPCC issued
its prior assessments.
O’Malley also noted that the report is inherently
conservative because it reflects the consensus of hundreds of parties,
including industry groups and governments opposed to taking action to reduce
global warming pollution.
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