is Global Warming undeniable?

Scientists say global warming is undeniable 

THE world will be hotter by 2100 than at any time in the past few million years if greenhouse gas emissions continue unabated, the Australian Academy of Science warns in a new report.
Global emissions would need to peak within the next 10 years, and then decline rapidly for the world to have a better than 50-50 chance of avoiding a temperature rise of 2 degrees, it concludes.
Produced and reviewed by two expert panels, the 24-page report, The Science of Climate Change, Questions and Answers, acknowledges there are still scientific uncertainties about some of the details of climate change.
These include its impact at specific locations, the precise timing and size of future changes, and when high-risk tipping points might be reached.
But broad conclusions about the impact of high emissions are based on strong evidence and rigorous scientific scrutiny, its authors said. ''We are very confident that human-induced global warming is a real phenomenon.''
A former academy president, Kurt Lambeck, said the report was aimed at clarifying often contradictory comments from non-scientific ''instant experts''.
The report refutes many of the claims made by climate change sceptics, such as that the globe has been cooling since 1998, the sun is mainly to blame for recent warming, recent warming is part of natural variability, and volcanoes emit more carbon dioxide than human activities.
The report ''unambiguously'' supported the conclusion that a continued reliance on fossil fuels would lead to a warmer world, with predictions ranging from a 2 to 7 degree increase by 2100.
Source : http://www.smh.com.au

 

Air Pollution Capital of the World-Beijing

As it gears up to host the 2008 Olympic Games Beijing has been awarded an unwelcome new accolade: the air pollution capital of the world.
Satellite data has revealed that the city is one of the worst environmental victims of China's spectacular economic growth, which has brought with it air pollution levels that are blamed for more than 400,000 premature deaths a year.
According to the European Space Agency, Beijing and its neighbouring north-east Chinese provinces have the planet's worst levels of nitrogen dioxide, which can cause fatal damage to the lungs.
An explosive increase in car ownership is blamed for a sharp rise in unhealthy emissions. In the past five years the number of vehicles clogging the capital's streets has more than doubled to nearly 2.5m. It is expected to top the 3m mark by the start of the Olympics in 2008.
Alarm about the perilous state of the environment has gathered pace in recent years. China is the world's second-largest producer of greenhouse gases, and the World Bank has warned it is home to 16 of the planet's 20 most air-polluted cities.

For more information:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2005/oct/31/china.pollution