For Immediate Release April 6, 2007 |
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Contact: Scientific
report confirms global warming impacts we see today could be
the tip of the iceberg St. Paul, MN...Today the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its second report this year that details the current and projected impacts of global warming. The Summary for Policy Makers of the Second Working Group report, Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, emphasizes that global warming is already having far reaching effects world wide and documents specific regional impacts that can be expected if temperatures continue to rise. Analysis from the National Environmental Trust (NET) indicates Minnesota’s recent temperature trends are consistent with the global increase in temperatures. "Minnesota is already feeling the impacts of global warming," explained J. Drake Hamilton, Science Policy Director of Fresh Energy. "Our summers are more humid, moose herds are disappearing, and our forests are changing. This impacts our economy and our culture. We need Congress and other leadership to act now to shape a clean energy future.” The IPCC Assessment Reports are considered the gold-standard of what the world’s scientists currently know about climate change. The reports are by their nature conservative since they are a synthesis of studies that have already received rigorous peer review. In this fourth assessment, which leaves out scientific findings which were published after December 2005, scientists point to strong evidence that more smog-related deaths, water scarcity for billions of people, and wildfires will be more likely with increased warming. Overall, the IPCC report will include more than 2,500 scientists appointed by the more than 130 countries. The report's Summary for Policymakers can be downloaded here: http://www.ipcc.ch/SPM6avr07.pdf A teleconference will be held to discuss global warming's impact on ducks and other waterfowl in the Upper Midwest:
- end - . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fresh Energy is a nonprofit organization leading the transition to a clean energy system. One that supports the health of our economies, our people, and our environment while moving us toward energy independence. www.fresh-energy.org |