A new global warming report issued Friday by the United Nations paints a
near-apocalyptic vision of Earth's future: more than a billion people in need of
water, extreme food shortages in Africa, a planetary landscape ravaged by floods
and millions of species sentenced to extinction.
But despite the harshness of its vision, the report was quickly criticized by
scientists who said its findings were watered down at the last minute by
government bureaucrats seeking to deflect calls for action.
"The science got hijacked by the political bureaucrats at the late stage of the
game," said John Walsh, a climate expert at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks,
who helped write a chapter on the polar regions.
Even in its softened form, the report outlined a range of devastating effects
that will strike all regions of the world and all levels of society. Those
without resources to adapt to the changes will suffer the greatest ...