> Motorists don't care. "Let them die", they say, "We have a right to
> drive and pollute regardless and we need more roads".
>
> "The UK should take active steps to prepare for dangerous climate
> change of perhaps 4C according to one of the government's chief
> scientific advisers.
>
> In policy areas such as flood protection, agriculture and coastal
> erosion Professor Bob Watson said the country should plan for the
> effects of a 4C global average rise on pre-industrial levels. The EU
> is committed to limiting emissions globally so that temperatures do
> not rise more than 2C.
>
> "There is no doubt that we should aim to limit changes in the global
> mean surface temperature to 2C above pre-industrial," Watson, the
> chief scientific adviser to the Department for the Environment, Food
> and Rural Affairs, told the Guardian. "But given this is an ambitious
> target, and we don't know in detail how to limit greenhouse gas
> emissions to realise a 2 degree target, we should be prepared to adapt
> to 4C."
>
> According to the government's 2006 Stern review on the economics of
> climate change, between 7 million and 300 million more people would be
> affected by coastal flooding each year, there would be a 30-50%%
> reduction in water availability in Southern Africa and the
> Mediterranean, agricultural yields would decline 15 to 35%% in Africa
> and 20 to 50%% of animal and plant species would face extinction.
>
> In the UK, the most significant impact would be rising sea levels and
> inland flooding. Climate modellers also predict there would be an
> increase in heavy rainfall events in winter and drier summers.
>
> Watson's plea to prepare for the worst was backed up by the
> government's former chief scientific adviser, Sir David King. He said
> that even with a comprehensive global deal to keep carbon dioxide
> levels in the atmosphere at below 450 parts per million there is a 50%%
> probability that temperatures would exceed 2C and a 20%% probability
> they would exceed 3.5C..."