Global Climate Change Is Happening Now

July 12, 2006 -- -- Scientists waited a long time to declare that global warming was real. And they waited even longer to declare that it resulted from human activities.

And they are still waiting to announce what is becoming increasingly obvious: It isn't going to take nearly as long as had been expected for profound changes to take place.

Good scientists are always cautious scientists, and that chiefly explains their reticence. But now, nearly every research institution involved in the study of global climate change -- from the American Academy of Sciences to the atmospheric department at your local university -- has issued reports citing overwhelming evidence that the planet is changing.

But how much will it change? How will that affect us? And how soon?

Those are the tough questions, and some of the answers will remain elusive for years to come. After all, predicting climate, even day to day, is foggy at best. Given the variables, it may be the most difficult science of all.

But many experts confide privately what they aren't yet ready to announce publicly: Change is accelerating at a dramatic rate.

A cascading effect is now in place. Rising temperatures cause greater releases of greenhouse gases, which in turn cause temperatures to rise, resulting in even more gases being released, and so on.

The most disturbing report on that phenomenon was published recently in Science. But like so many reports, it seems to deal with events so far away and so arcane that it's easy to look the other way. Yet the consequences will land on everybody's doorstep.

Here's the bottom line of that report: The permafrost that blankets northern Siberia is thawing.

Wow, you say, Siberia. So far away.

But here's the statement that needs to be printed on every politician's forehead.

That permafrost contains 75 times more carbon than is released by burning fossil fuel around the entire planet for an entire year. That number is worth repeating. More carbon than all our cars and factories will release in 75 years.