Climate Change
A few weeks ago, the IPCC (The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) II Work group announced that "it is very likely that" (90%) human activity is the cause of climate change1. They officially announced that they are sure that climate change is caused by human activity! This seems obvious to me, the growing amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere, unwisely used resources, etc. Who else could be the cause? Baboons in Africa? Or it might as well be armadillo's in Australia. Well, either way the world is getting warmer and people must be aware of this so that perhaps they will be more careful when using resources. Believe it or not but 130 scientists from all over the world debated this issue for 24 hours! And they agreed on this because for the first time, they had empirical data. (Like there wasn't any before!)

The poorest of the poor will be the most badly effected says the IPCC chairman Rajendra Pachauri1. That is natural because poor people will not have any shelter when a hurricane comes or any technology to defend themselves (like warning systems). It seems as if it is hard for the committee to agree on something, which is this obvious.

I cannot imagine what the result would be if they tried to agree on a more debatable issue. I can't believe that such an important organization focuses on such miniscule details and doesn't come up with immediate solutions. They have some theories but they do not inform people accurately enough! I have read all the scenarios put forward by this committee and although it does not seem that bad, the conclusion is not good in all cases. The part that I would like to point out here is that there is no such group or committee in Turkey. The ministry of environment and forests has some studies but they are not taken seriously. This is very dangerous for our future and it must not be underestimated. The organizations should go out of their laboratories and warn people rather than saying that humans "might" be the cause of this.

1- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6321351.stm   

Alev İclal Değim (COMD/II)
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