Climate Change

Rising global temperatures, melting glaciers and ice sheets, and sea level rise leave little room for doubt that the planet is warming due to human emissions of greenhouse gasses. As of November 2007, 174 nations signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol, acknowledging that the planet’s climate is warming because of human activity, and that if unaddressed, ecosystems that both humans and nature depend on will be adversely affected. At the same time, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued its most dire report yet. We are putting greenhouse gasses (GHGs) into the atmosphere faster than we expected. Most GHGs, such as carbon dioxide (CO2), come from burning fossil fuels, such as oil, coal and natural gas, for energy, and from global deforestation. In the next 25 years, humans are expected to burn as much oil as in all of human history to date (the National Petroleum Council’s 2007 report, Facing the Hard Truths about Energy).

What are the implications of climate change?

The ecosystems being affected by climate change provide essential goods and services, including the purification of water, soil renewal, crop pollination, and harvestable plants and wildlife. How climate change affects the ability of the natural world to continue providing these services will have major consequences for the health and well-being of human communities.

One of the most significant potential impacts of climate change is sea level rise that may cause destruction of coastal areas and shoreline erosion.

The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change is a report prepared by Sir Nicholas Stern, the United Kingdom’s Head of the Government Economic Service and Adviser to the Government on the economics of climate change and development. The report, released on October 30, 2006, discusses the effect of climate change and global warming on the world economy that presents scientific evidence that climate change is a serious global threat. Following are some of the report’s conclusions:

• Climate change will affect the basic requirements of life for people around the world, impacting access to water, food production, health and the environment.
• Estimates show that if we do not take urgent action to address climate change, the overall costs and risks will be equivalent to losing at least 5% (and as much as 20% or more) of the global gross domestic product (GDP) annually – from now until forever. In contrast, if action is taken by reducing GHG emissions, this could be limited to approximately 1% GDP annually.
• Climate change is the greatest market failure the world has ever seen, and it interacts with other market imperfections. Policy is needed to have an effective impact on global warming.

Climate change is arguably the greatest challenge yet faced by human species.The World Health Organization estimates that the present impacts of climate change result in over 150,000 human lives lost annually, due to cardiovascular mortality and respiratory illnesses from heat waves, altered transmission of infectious diseases and malnutrition from crop failures.

A warming climate will alter the face of familiar landscapes, such as this northern New England farming community. Manomet's Climate Change Initiative is aimed at answering many of the urgent impact and adaptation questions raised by a changing climate.

In addition to human impacts, we are already seeing how the planet’s ecosystems are responding to climate change. Species are shifting their distributions. The timing and extent of wildlife migrations are changing. Reproduction is becoming jeopardized. Communities are being disrupted. The result…some species will be driven to extinction. It has been estimated that if we do not slow down our emissions of GHG over the next few decades between 5% and 30% of the species examined will be at increased risk of extinction because of the changing climate (IPCC Fourth Assessment Report).