Experts: Latest climate report too rosy

From the AP via Yahoo courtesy of AlterNet:

Early and changeable drafts of their upcoming authoritative report on climate change foresee smaller sea level rises than were projected in 2001 in the last report. Many top U.S. scientists reject these rosier numbers. Those calculations don't include the recent, and dramatic, melt-off of big ice sheets in two crucial locations:

They "don't take into account the gorillas — Greenland and Antarctica," said Ohio State University earth sciences professor Lonnie Thompson, a polar ice specialist. "I think there are unpleasant surprises as we move into the 21st century."

And

Those scientists who say sea level will rise even more are battling a consensus-building structure that routinely issues scientifically cautious global warming reports, scientists say. The IPCC reports have to be unanimous, approved by 154 governments — including the United States and oil-rich countries such as Saudi Arabia — and already published peer-reviewed research done before mid-2006.

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You know, I read this stuff and just become infuriated with the irresponsibility of conservatives who stoke the bogus "controversy" among scientists about whether global warming exists or whether it's man made. There is a controversy, it seems, but it's about how bad and how quickly global warming is happening, not whether it exists. Needless to say, given the financial and ideological power the global warming flat-earthers wield, we're sure to be having the same stupid argument as the water starts to cover our ankles, and the economy falls to pieces.

It's no wonder that George Carlin has given up hope for the human race.

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