Climate Change: Stronger, Faster, Sooner

From Architecture Week, a discussion of impacts on health, food, ecosystems, water, and more:

Recent scientific research — published since the deadline for the latest assessment report from the IPCC — reveals that global warming is accelerating far beyond the 2007 IPCC forecasts. This brief collects some of the key findings, including particular impacts of climate change in Europe. . . . Indeed important aspects of climate change seem to have been underestimated and the impacts are being felt sooner. For example, early signs of change suggest that the less than 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) of global warming that the world has experienced to date may have already triggered the first tipping point of the Earth's climate system — the disappearance of summer Arctic sea ice. This process could open the gates to rapid and abrupt climate change, rather than the gradual changes that have been forecast so far.

Preparing for Climate Disruption

Yes, the new term is "climate disruption," which is intended to bring home more forcefully the things we most fear from "climate change" or "global warning," which is the negative effects on humans and human civilizations. This article (PDF) is by Richard Moss, one of the panelists on the supporting webcast from SCUP of the sixth annual Campus Sustainability Day, coming on October 22. We hope you are doing something about it on your campus! Moss is actually planning to cope with climate change:

Identifying vulnerabilities and encouraging adaptation will require a more thorough
process of assessment. This process should engage stakeholders who will be affected and draw on the many resources for research, monitoring, and other forms of information gathering that exist within Maryland. This study lays a foundation for such a process by

(1) highlighting some resources and activities “at risk” from climate and other
environmental changes, (2) identifying some of the major monitoring and research
resources that will provide information for future decision making, and (3) suggesting relationships between climate change adaptation and current policies for economic development and protection of natural resources and the environment. It will also outline how an open process for identifying vulnerabilities and adaptation options might be structured with the involvement of stakeholders in various sectors (e.g., businesses, natural resource managers, researchers, and the general public) and emphasize the opportunities presented for interagency coordination to develop integrated, innovative paths forward.