IPCC Press Release

“Climate Change widespread, rapid, and intensifying.”

“I used to say, when I was talking about climate change, that climate change is serious, certain, and soon. But this is no longer accurate. Now it is very serious, very certain, and now.”
Linda O. Mearns, Ph.D. Senior scientist, Research Applications Lab, National Center for Atmospheric Research

Linda O. Mearns of NCAR in Boulder, CO is one of four climate scientists chosen by the American Association for the Advancement of Science to comment on the recent Assessment Report (AR6) by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The IPCC was created by 195 member nations to synthesize a world climate health report every 6 to 7 years.  234 science professionals created AR6 drawing on 14,000, peer-reviewed science studies. 

For a historical background of ARs here is a condensed progression of the IPCC reports from 1990 to today.

AR1(1990): humankind is capable of raising surface-air temperature.

AR2(1995): The balance of evidence suggests a discernible human influence on global climate.

AR3(2001): Most of the warming is likely to have been due to the increase in greenhouse gas concentrations.

AR4(2007): Most of the observed increase in global average temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations. (Anthropogenic means human caused)

AR5(2013): It is extremely likely the human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century.

AR6(2021): “It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land.” (Unequivocal means indisputable)

Here is an often-overlooked fact. The science community prior to 1990 was already in consensus with global warming warnings. They told us we needed to start reigning in our greenhouse gas emissions. The IPCC was formed with science at its core BUT each country was given political veto power over any statement within the report. This is 195 potential vetoes which, in previous AR assessments, meant the science authors had to dilute their message to prevent a veto. Politically, countries like Saudi Arabia, Russia, Venezuela, and the USA whose political systems are dominated by oil producer’s money, simply refused to allow wording which threatened the profits of their campaign donors, the fossil fuel companies.

An IPCC contributing author, Professor Ed Hawkins from the University of Reading recently told the press, “So, it is a statement of fact, we cannot be any more certain; it is unequivocal and indisputable that humans are warming the planet…And EVERY GOVERNMENT agreed to that”.  You might consider what a meatgrinder of political obstructionism this report, and all previous reports have had to pass. His statement reflects an improbable political consensus. To get this unanimity among political operatives worldwide is remarkable and frightening at the same time.  One must wonder what finally pushed the political operatives to refrain from vetoing the report.

Here are some comments from more US AAAS scientists regarding the report:

“So we keep hearing more and more in the news about these extreme events, and the takeaway message from this new report is that these events are just going to occur more and more often as global temperatures rise. And they may get more and more intense. And so, in the Western U.S., for example, we need to think hard about issues like water conservation and water storage in order to sort of weather through these increasingly extreme events.” Jessica Tierney, Ph.D. Associate professor of geosciences, University of Arizona 

“There’s really one key message that emerges from this report: We are out of time. And this report really provides compelling, scientific linkages between the headlines that we see today and what we know about the physics of the climate system and how it’s being impacted by rising greenhouse gases.” Kim Cobb, Ph.D. Professor of earth and atmospheric sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology

“Projections of the future U.S. climate show changes to a wide range of important aspects, including heatwaves, heavy rainfall, drought, snow, the seasonal cycle, sea level rise, and ocean acidification. Heatwaves and the intensity of heavy rainfall are projected to continue increasing, and snow decreasing, for most of the U.S.; and the occurrence of drought and weather conditions favorable to wildfires are projected to continue increasing for the Western U.S. Of importance to coastal communities and ecosystems, ocean temperature, ocean acidity, and sea levels are all projected to continue increasing. Higher emissions will lead to larger changes; reducing emissions will reduce the severity of the impacts.”

“The changes that we have seen so far are associated with around 1 degree C of warming. Limiting warming to the 1.5 degree C target of the Paris Agreement would require immediate, rapid, and large-scale reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.  However, regardless of any specific temperature target, every degree matters: Reducing emissions will reduce impacts.” Mathew Barlow, Ph.D.  Professor of climate science, University of Massachusetts Lowell

The report has a 40-page Summary for Policy Makers, (SPM), which is written so even a denying politician can understand it. The whole report is 3000 pages long and took 3 years to compile. While much of it will be pretty dry, the SPM will be in layman terms and there is a regional interactive atlas which will both enlighten and entertain. Search  “IPCC AR6”

If you want to make a difference, call your senators and representatives to demand climate action. Then brag to your friends and family you did.