MUSIC: "Our World" theme
Straight ahead on "Our World," a dire global warming report ... a setback for the space telescope ... and a visit to a frontier outpost in physics research ...
SCHULZ: "What Alice is trying to do is to recreate the environment in which the universe was and to study what was the nature of matter at this early time of our universe.
The Large Hadron Collider, our Website of the Week, and more. I'm Art Chimes. Welcome to the of VOA's science and technology magazine, "Our World."
Top climate scientists have warned that global warming is here, it's caused by human activity, and the impact ? including rising sea levels ? could persist for centuries. That's the consensus announced by an authoritative UN group including scientists from 113 countries. Lisa Bryant reports from Paris, where the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its report on Friday.
BRYANT: More intense storms; rising sea levels and higher temperatures; people being forced to flee their homes because of changing weather patterns ? the findings presented by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, amounted to the toughest wake-up call aired to date by 2,500 of the world's leading climate scientists.
U.N. Environment Program head Achim Steiner told reporters in Paris Friday that the world cannot afford to ignore it.
STEINER: "It shifts from doubting to having to act ? even if the last element of certainty is not yet there. I think anyone who would continue to risk inaction on the basis of evidence presented here will one day in the history books be considered irresponsible."
BRYANT: Humans need to act, Steiner and other experts say, because human activity is the principle cause of rising temperatures and their effects in recent decades. The report says our use of fossil fuels like oil and gas, our agricultural activities, and the other ways we exploit our planet have all produced heat-trapping greenhouse gases. The panel's new report predicts that temperatures will continue to rise between 1.8 degrees and 4 degrees Celsius in this century alone.
More worrying, those temperature rises will continue over the new few centuries -? even if we take action to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. Senior US government scientist Susan Solomon co-chaired the panel that prepared the report.
SOLOMON: "The key conclusion is that warming of the climate system is now unequivocal. Unequivocal. And that's evident in observations in air and ocean temperatures, melting of snow and ice, rising global mean sea level."
BRYANT: The report updates a previous report, released in 2001 And the scientists noted this survey is based on numerous studies that have taken place since then, and a more solid scientific consensus on global warming. Six years ago, the IPPC said only that global warming was "very likely" caused by human activity. This time, the group says it's 90 percent confident that man is responsible for rises in global temperatures.
The study tried to predict what we can expect in the coming decades. Sea levels may rise between 18 and centimeters by the end of the century. We have already seen more intense storms and hurricanes ? and the report says we'll very likely see more of these dramatic weather patterns in future years.
How will this affect humans? Well, says the UN's Steiner, that all depends on where you live.
STEINER: "If you're an African child born in 2007, it's likely that by the time you're 50 years old you may in fact be faced with new diseases, you may be faced with new droughts. You may even have to leave the areas you live in because some projections show that Africa may have 30 percent of its coastal infrastructure affected by the end of this century as a result of sea level rise."
BRYANT: And if you're born in South Asia, water may flood your home, and you may become an environmental refugee.
But much of the report is cautious and scientific. It is a consensus document, drafted and edited by hundreds of scientists. Some environmentalists feared the process might water down its conclusions.
But IPCC chairman Rajendra Pachauri says the broad consensus is what gives the findings their credibility.
PACHAURI: "This is the strength of the IPCC process ? it's essentially the scientists, the experts who are the ones who assess and provide the knowledge. And since we accept everything by consensus, the implication is that whatever is finally accepted and approved has the stamp of acceptance."
BRYANT: The report has already sparked calls for action. French President Jacques Chirac called Friday for an environmental and political revolution to save the planet.