Bombshell: Koch-Funded Study Finds ‘Global Warming Is Real’ (...and the cause is human.)

[GliderGuider]

89. Do you really think the damage at +8C would be confined to India and South China?

The big issue isn't just one of temperature, it's rainfall disruptions impacting the global food supply. The global weather disruptions we're seeing right now are happening with a +1C rise, instead of at +2 like everyone expected. A growing body of opinion (including the British Royal Society) is saying that +2 is into the "dangerous warming" territory.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avoiding_dangerous_climate_change

Limiting the average global surface temperature increase of 2°C over the pre-industrial average has, since the 1990s, been commonly regarded as an adequate means of avoiding dangerous climate change, in science and policy making.[12][13] However, recent science has shown that the weather, environmental and social impacts of 2°C rise are much greater than the earlier science indicated, and that impacts for a 1°C rise are now expected to be as great as those previously assumed for a 2°C rise.[11]

In a July 2011 speech, climate scientist Kevin Anderson explained that for this reason, avoiding dangerous climate in the conventional sense is no longer possible, because the temperature rise is already close to 1°C, with effects formerly assumed for 2°C.[14][15] Moreover, Anderson's presentation demonstrates reasons why a temperature rise of 4°C by 2060 is a likely outcome, given the record to date of action on climate, economic realities, and short window of time remaining for limiting the average surface temperature rise to 2°C or even 3°C.[14] He also states that a 4°C rise would likely be an unstable state, leading to further increases in following decades regardless of mitigation measures that may be taken.[14]

The consequences of failing to avoid dangerous climate change have been explored in two recent scientific conferences: the 4 degrees and beyond climate change conference held Oxford university it 2009; and the Four Degrees Or More? Australia in a Hot World held at the Univ. of Melbourne in July 2011.

http://rsta.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/369/1934.toc

http://rsta.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/369/1934/20.abstract