As detailed in a television report today on the BBC, the Earth is racing toward a warmer climate at a quickening pace according to a report released today by the International Panel On Climate Change (IPCC). The IPCC, the Nobel Prize winning U.N. scientific body and respected authority on climate change warns of inevitable human suffering and the threat of extinction for some species. However the United States repeatedly challenged passages emphasizing the level of threat posed by climate change, objecting that the wording was imprecise.

Jim Connaughton, chairman of White House's Council on Environmental Quality said,

The scientific definition of the dangers of climate change is lacking, and so we are operating within the construct of, again, strong agreement among world leaders that urgent action is warranted.

However, the report was adopted by consensus, meaning countries accept the underlying science and cannot disavow its conclusions. It is based on thousands of pages of data and computer models from six years of research compiled by the IPCC.

Quoting the IPCC report,

As early as 2020, 75 million to 250 million people in Africa will suffer water shortages, residents of Asia's mega-cities will be at great risk of river and coastal flooding, Europeans can expect extensive species loss, and North Americans will experience longer and hotter heat waves and greater competition for water.

Especially disturbing was the report expressing concern that the poor and the elderly will suffer most from climate change; that hunger and disease will be more common; that droughts, floods and heat waves will afflict the world's poorest regions; and that more animal and plant species will vanish. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon who had just been to see ice shelves breaking up in Antarctica and the melting Torres del Paine glaciers in Chile said,  

The potential impact of global warming is so severe and so sweeping that only urgent, global action will do. Today the world’s scientists have spoken, clearly and in one voice.

In an especially strong rebuke to largely discredited global warming deniers, IPCC Chairman Rajendra Pachauri contributed this,

When you're on strong scientific ground, you don't yield any ground. We have to make sure that scientific truth is not suppressed.

Yet, the Bush administration tried to make some changes in the report that were inconsistent with the consensus of the majority. Dr. Sharon Hays, leader of the US delegation said.

The goal was not political but to make sure the final report matches the science.

But Stephanie Tunmore, with Greenpeace International who was an official observer said that was not the case. She said the United States attempted to remove part of the report called ‘Reasons for Concern’ that presented many consequences of global warming referred to as either likely or possible, including the melting of ice sheets. Thankfully scientific knowledge and commitment prevailed and the information remained.

Of course, while Europe has relentlessly pursued the enforcement of the carbon emission targets outlined in the Kyoto treaty, the US along with China, refused to sign the accord. President Bush favors a voluntary agreement. Translation for those of you who do not speak immoral neo-con; Bush is unwilling to commit this country to trying to avoid the devastating consequences of climate change. Why? Because that stands in conflict with the greed and avarice of his corporate benefactors who are reluctant to spend the money it would take to clean up their polluting, carbon emission spewing ways and to invest in new clean technology. In essence Bush is saying, we do not care about what scientists say is an impending disaster. Making money for the wealthy is more important.

The conservative perspective on global warming in the United States as embraced by the Bush administration is disastrous for the American people and the world. No longer can we be allowed to make decisions that seek to benefit the status quo, the wealthy powerful corporate interests at the expense of the health of our planet and the world. The momentum for change is building to a crescendo and hopefully after January 1st, 2009 we will be a moral leader in that effort.