One notable aspect of the IPCC’s release tomorrow is that what you read you can also look out your window to see. The paper’s topic is how climate change has begun to impact ecosystems across the globe, and the authors assert with “high confidence” that global warming is responsible for changes taking place.
For example, as the Washington Post point out, there’s a good chance that the birds in your neighborhood are subtly displaying signs of warmer temperatures. Some species have changed migration patterns, when they lay their eggs, or even their primary habitat.
Other signs of warming may not be as close, but are even more clear, such as retreating glaciers and bleached corals — both losing the essence of their being, which we have long revered and explored in awe.
And then there’s how humanity will be impacted, projections which are for the most part pessimistic. The New York Times has an interactive feature on the Winners and Losers in a Changing Climate. In short, industrialized nations’ emissions have doomed the agricultural forecast for developing nations, and yet in our globalized society we’ll all be hit with shortages.
Just one day before the official summary of the second Working Group’s paper, you wonder, ‘What changes can I see out my own window?’ and ‘Do I really want to see a summary of how this is going to get worse?’