WEATHER

GLOBAL IMPACT OF THE UN IPCC REPORT "CLIMATE CHANGE 2007: THE PHYSICAL SCIENCE BASIS" ON PEOPLE'S STATE OF MIND

WORKING GROUP I OF THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE (IPCC) ANNOUNCED IT ADOPTED THE SUMMARY FOR POLICYMAKERS OF VOLUME ONE OF "CLIMATE CHANGE 2007" IN PARIS ON 2-FEB-07.

WHAT WAS THE IMPACT OF THE ANNOUNCEMENT AND OTHER COMPETING EVENTS ON PEOPLE'S STATE OF MIND WORLDWIDE?

Five time periods are compared: ±1 day; ±30 days; ±90 days; ±365 days.

• Munich Re Group: Natural catastrophes in 2007 led to 15,000 deaths, $75 billion in economic damages, and insured losses of about $30 billion; the damages in 2005 and 2006 are estimated at $220 billion and $50 billion, respectively.
  See: Natural catastrophe figures for 2007, Munich Re Group, 27-Dec-07.
• Swiss Re: Natural and man-made catastrophes led to more than 20 000 deaths, $61 billion in damages, and insured losses of about $25 billion.
  See: Preliminary Swiss Re sigma estimates of catastrophe losses in 2007: Impacted by high losses from flood and storm damage in Europe, Swiss Re, 18-Dec-07.

• Greenpeace stops 30,000 tonne coal shipment to Nanticoke, demands clean energy supply for Ontario, Greenpeace Canda, Toronto, Ontario, Press Release, 30-Aug-07.
• Nanticoke Generating Station, Ontario Power Generation Inc.

Greenpeace: MV Arctic Sunrise,
Toronto, ON, 1-3-Sep-07
 

Part 1: Greenpeace  - MV Arctic Sunrise, Toronto Pier 4, 2-Sep-07.

• Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis
  Summary for Policymakers
  Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
  This Summary for Policymakers was formally approved at the 10th Session of Working Group I of the IPCC, Paris, February 2007.

• Climate Change 2007: Mitigation of Climate Change
  Summary for Policymakers
  Working Group III Contribution to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Fourth Assessment Report. Bangkok, May 4, 2007.

• World Environment Day – 5 June 2007
  • Melting Ice: A Hot Topic
    Booklet.
    Key facts include:
    • "The Earth has warmed by approximately 0.75 ˚C since pre-industrial times. . . Warming in this century is projected to be between 1.4 and 5.8 ˚C."
    • "The Chinese Academy of Sciences says that 7 per cent of the country’s glaciers are vanishing annually. By 2050, as many as 64 per cent of China’s glaciers will have disappeared. An estimated 300 million people live in China’s arid west and depend on water from glaciers for their survival."
    • "As sea levels rise, inhabitants of low-lying islands and coastal cities face inundation."
    • "In 2005 the Munich Re Foundation estimated economic losses due to weather-linked disasters, such as tropical storms and forest fires, at more than US$ 200 billion, with insured losses at more than US$ 70 billion."

    • "In 2003, France experienced an estimated extra 15,000 deaths due to a heat wave that claimed as many as 35,000 people across Europe."

• Environmental Defense et al. v. Duke Energy Corp. et al.
  Supreme Court of the United States. Docket No. 05–848. Argued 1-Nov-06—Decided 2-Apr-07.

• Court Rules 9-0 in Favor of Environmental Defense. Environmental Defense argued that "Duke Energy must clean up old, polluting plants when it refurbishes them." Environmental Defense, Press Release, 2-Apr-07.

• Court Rules 5-4 in Massachusetts versus EPA.
  "Supreme Court finds that the EPA can regulate heat-trapping pollution, putting pressure on Congress to act on global warming." Environmental Defense, Press Release, 2-Apr-07.
• Duke Energy to Continue New Source Review Case in Lower Courts Following U.S. Supreme Court Ruling.
  Duke Energy Corp., Press Release, 2-Apr-07.

Source: The CNA Corporation.
 

• Climate Change
  • U.S. Greenhouse Gas Inventory Reports

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