*NEWS*EARTH’S TEMPERATURES @RECORD LEVELS

[Anonymous]

Earth’s Temperatures Rising to Record Levels
Earth Headed for Warmest Temps in a Million Years
Scientists Also Rebuke Popular Author Michael Crichton
(NOV.
06) – In about 45 years, temperatures on Earth will be hotter than at
anytime during the past one million years, says the U.S. government’s
top climatologist in a new report released today.According to the
report, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences, the planet is just two degrees shy of an average temperature
of 59 degrees Fahrenheit, which is what they believe the temperature
was about a million years ago.NASA’s James Hansen, along with
colleagues from the University of California and Columbia University,
are for the first time, marking a calendar signaling the approach of
temperatures that humans have never experienced.”Humans are now in
control of the Earth’s climate, for better or worse,” Hansen tells ABC
News.Based on a “business as usual” scenario in which greenhouse gasses
continue to rise unabated, Hansen says we’ll break the million-year-old
record in about 45 years. But he stresses we can’t wait that long to
cut greenhouse gas pollution, because of the decades it takes for the
climate system to respond to changes.”We need to get started now,” he
says. “We can’t wait another decade or two to take this
seriously.”Those 2 degrees the scientists are talking about may not
sound like much, but what that change means is that by mid-century, the
world will experience even more record heat waves, wildfires, more
intense storms and flooding.In other parts of the world, the increase
may worsen drought conditions as more mountain glaciers and snow packs
vanish, no longer sending water to the valleys below.And in a highly
unusual move for a scientific paper, the authors devote eight
paragraphs to systematically deconstructing the assertions of a
prominent science fiction novelist. In the non-fiction sections of his
2004 book “State of Fear,” best-selling author Michael Crichton wrote
that Hansen’s climate change calculations were “wrong by 300
percent.”Hansen says Crichton misrepresented his scientific work and,
adds the scientist, has done so in testimony before Congress and in a
meeting with President Bush — even though he is not a climate
expert.”He is propagating false information to the public,” Hansen
says.Crichton, through a publicist, declined ABC News’ request for an
interview.

[Author]

November 6, 2006 at 11:47 AM