Warming 'likely' man-made, unstoppable

It looks like the new report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is going to be as frightening as I anticipated.

The world's leading climate scientists said global warming has begun, is "very likely" caused by man, and will be unstoppable for centuries, according to a report obtained Friday by The Associated Press.

The scientists - using their strongest language yet on the issue - said now that world has begun to warm, hotter temperatures and rises in sea level "would continue for centuries" no matter how much humans control their pollution. The report also linked the warming to the recent increase in stronger hurricanes.

"The observed widespread warming of the atmosphere and ocean, together with ice-mass loss, support the conclusion that it is extremely unlikely that global climate change of the past 50 years can be explained without external forcing, and very likely that is not due to known natural causes alone," said the report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [IPCC] - a group of hundreds of scientists and representatives of 113 governments.

The phrase "very likely" translates to a more than 90 percent certainty that global warming is caused by man's burning of fossil fuels. That was the strongest conclusion to date, making it nearly impossible to say natural forces are to blame.

And this should surprise no one. One of the scientists involved has gotten so frustrated he emailed a reporter about the problems the panel's encountering.

Scientists involved in the discussions said today that the U.S. delegation, led by political appointees [surprise!], was pressing to play down language pointing to a link between intensification of hurricanes and warming caused by human activity.

“They have tended to highlight uncertainties on certain issues,” a scientist involved in the negotiations said in an e-mail message sent to a reporter today. The scientist sent the message on the condition of anonymity.

On Wednesday night, the same scientist, frustrated with efforts by China and the United States to avoid language that might box them in on policy options, e-mailed that “this is becoming an impossible process.”