It's here, and it's not pretty. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has released its Fifth Assessment Report that states our planet is warming in an unprecedented fashion and that humans are playing a huge role.
"Observations of changes in the climate system are based on multiple lines of independent evidence. Our assessment of the science finds that the atmosphere and ocean have warmed, the amount of snow and ice has diminished, the global mean sea level has risen and the concentrations of greenhouse gases have increased," said Qin Dahe, Co-Chair of IPCC Working Group I.
In the United Nations-sanctioned report, the IPCC states that "warming in the climate system is unequivocal" and that humans are a major reason for it.
"It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century," reads the IPPC report press release. "The evidence for this has grown, thanks to more and better observations, an improved understanding of the climate system response and improved climate models."
"Continued emissions of greenhouse gases will cause further warming and changes in all components of the climate system. Limiting climate change will require substantial and sustained reductions of greenhouse gas emissions," added Thomas Stocker, the other Co-Chair of Working Group I.
The international group of scientists is surer than ever that humans are a key contributor to the Earth's current climate flux. The panel hopes to draw attention to the level of involvement governments will have to commit to if the world is to collectively address rising temperatures and climate as a real issue affecting populations. The future outlook, the team stresses, is grim if more isn't done.
"Global surface temperature change for the end of the 21st century is projected to be likely to exceed 1.5°C relative to 1850 to 1900 in all but the lowest scenario considered, and likely to exceed 2°C for the two high scenarios," Stocker said.
"Heat waves are very likely to occur more frequently and last longer. As the Earth warms, we expect to see currently wet regions receiving more rainfall, and dry regions receiving less, although there will be exceptions."