Earth’s climate and ecosystems are already being affected, for better and
mostly for worse, by the atmospheric buildup of smokestack and tailpipe gases
that trap heat, top climate experts said today.
And while curbs in emissions can limit risks, they said, vulnerable regions must
adapt to shifting weather patterns and rising seas.
The conclusions came in the latest report from Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change, which has tracked research on human-caused global warming since
being created by the United Nations in 1988. In February, the panel released a
report that for the first time concluded with 90-percent certainty that humans
were the main cause of warming since 1950. But in this report, focusing on the
impact of warming, for the first time the group described how species, water
supplies, ice sheets, and regional climate conditions were already responding.
At a news conference capping four days of debate ...