Who is the blame for climate change? Humans

Today in Paris,The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said temperatures were probably going to increase by 1.8-4C (3.2-7.2F) by the end of the century.

Dr Rajendra Pachauri, the IPCC chairman, said: “It is extremely encouraging in that the science has moved on from what was possible in the Third Assessment Report.

“If you see the extent to which human activities are influencing the climate system, the options for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions appear in a different light, because you can see what the costs of inaction are,” he told delegates in Paris.

Writing in the journal Science, an international group of scientists concluded that temperatures and sea levels had been rising at or above the maximum rates proposed in the last report, which was published in 2001.

The paper compared the 2001 projections on temperature and sea level change report with what has actually happened.

The models had forecasted a temperature rise between about 0.15C-0.35C (0.27-0.63F) over this period. The actual rise of 0.33C (0.59F) was very close to the top of the IPCC’s range.

A more dramatic picture emerged from the sea level comparison. The actual average level, measured by tide gauges and satellites, had risen faster than the intergovernmental panel of scientists predicted it would.

In my earlier blog in July last year, I mentioned the mitigating effect of global dimming.Now, the 130 scientists have statued: the net effect of global warming is greater than forecasted earlier.
Island country like Mauritius, where a large part of our economy is based on sea related Tourism,has to readjust its economic strategy. Soon,there would  be a Carbon tax for airline travelers which will change the economics of traveling long distances and also an environment tax to be levied from those causing deteriorations of the global  environment.
I wonder if the authorities issuing building permits  on the coast will integrate these  climatic changes to come :the rising sea level, warmer atmosphere, more violent winds  etc…..”Gouverner c’est prevoir” I had been taught by my 6th grade primary school teacher Mr. Aime Laval to whom I am forever so grateful.

The entrepreneur in me sees opportunities to exploit, in the light of such future certainties.