PowerSwitch

Times Online - 25/06/07

Here are the hard facts about global warming that everyone should know, compiled for Times Online by internationally acclaimed writer, scientist and explorer Tim Flannery, author of The Weather Makers: Our changing climate and what it means for life on earth.

Ten predictions made by climate scientists that have come true (or are becoming true)

1 - That the Earth would warm as more CO2 was put into the atmosphere (Svante Arrhenius in 1893).

2 - That we'd begin to see noticable changes to Earth's climate by around 2000 (some IPCC scientists ).

3 - That sea-level would start rising.

4 - That Earth's Ice would start melting rapidly (James Hanson).

5 - that hurricanes would increase in intensity (this one goes back to Alfred Russel Wallace in 1900).

6 - That species would start going extinct as a result of climate change.

7 - That Australia would start drying out (Hadley Centre scientists).

8 - That tropical diseases would increase.

9 - That food crops would be adversely affected.

10 - That the CO2 would begin to acidify the ocean.

The ten biggest changes to the weather wrought by climate change

1 - Shorter winters.

2 - Less runoff into dams and reservoirs in many regions of the world.

3 - More violent and longer hurricanes.

4 - Less chilly nights.

5 - Less predictable seasonal conditions.

6 - Less snow.

7 - More heat waves.

8 - Less rain in many regions at various seasons.

9 - More severe storms in the North Sea and parts of the southern Ocean.

10 - Generally warmer conditions.

The ten places in the world / animals in the world most endangered by global warming

1 - The glorious Cape Botanic province in South Africa, particularly the succulent Karoo flora.

2 - Amphibians everywhere (a third of all species are already gravely endangered or extinct).

3 - Coral reefs.

4 - Species on mountain tops (many populations are already extinct).

5 - The tundra.

6 - The Arctic Ocean.

7 - The Antarctic Peninsula.

8 - Australia - where the drying trend is already precipitating a new wave of declines and extinctions.

9 - The DODGY TAX AVOIDERS, where drying will affect forests and rivers.

10 - The boreal forests, here pest infestations are destroying vast areas of trees.