Photo by D. Robb
In February, 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change noted:
"If we keep emitting greenhouse gases at current rates we will see bigger changes this century than we did in the previous century. The amount of warming will depend on choices human beings make."
"A broad array of...experts said the latest analysis was the most sobering view yet of a century in which thousands of years of relatively stable climate conditions will suddenly be replaced by a new normalcy of continual change." Andrew Revkin, The New York Times on IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (Feb. 2, 2007)
"The ultimate concern is that if runaway global warming occurred, temperatures could spiral out of control and make our planet uninhabitable.... this is the first time that a species has been at risk of generating its own demise.… The dinosaurs dominated the earth for 160 million years. We are in danger of putting our future at risk after a mere quarter of a million years." Michael Meacher, UK Minister for the Environment 1997-2003, The Guardian, 14 February 2003.
"… the impacts of global warming are such that I have no hesitation in describing it as a ‘weapon of mass destruction’". Sir John Houghton, former chief executive of the UK Meteorological Office and co-chair of the Scientific Assessment Working Group of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, The Guardian, 28 July 2003.
"We've known for some time that we have to worry about the impacts of climate change on our children's and grandchildren's generations. But we now have to worry about ourselves as well." Margaret Beckett, British Secretary of State for Environment (April, 2002)
"We are playing Russian roulette with features of the planet's atmosphere that will profoundly impact generations to come. How long are we willing to gamble?" by David Suzuki
"First, I worry about climate change. It's the only thing that I believe has the power to fundamentally end the march of civilization as we know it, and make a lot of the other efforts that we're making irrelevant and impossible" by Bill Clinton
"The science is in. The facts are there that we have created, man has, a self-inflicted wound that man has created through global warming." by Arnold Schwarzenegger
"Global warming is too serious for the world any longer to ignore its danger or split into opposing factions on it." by Tony Blair
"Two thousand scientists, in a hundred countries, engaged in the most elaborate, well organized scientific collaboration in the history of humankind, have produced long-since a consensus that we will face a string of terrible catastrophes unless we act to prepare ourselves and deal with the underlying causes of global warming." by Al Gore
"I don't mean to imply that we are in imminent danger of being wiped off the face of the earth - at least, not on account of global warming. But climate change does confront us with profound new realities. We face these new realities as a nation, as members of the world community, as consumers, as producers, and as investors. And unless we do a better job of adjusting to these new realities, we will pay a heavy price. We may not suffer the fate of the dinosaurs. But there will be a toll on our environment and on our economy, and the toll will rise higher with each new generation." by Eileen Claussen
"The warnings about global warming have been extremely clear for a long time. We are facing a global climate crisis. It is deepening. We are entering a period of consequences." by Al Gore
"The government has not yet put in place key measures to support Canadians in adapting to a changing climate, nor has it clarified how it intends to manage its own adaptation efforts,'' Environment Commissioner Johanne Gelinas
"Global climate change is the biggest challenge we're going to face in our generation. It needs the resources which are commensurate with the challenges," Toronto Liberal MP John Godfrey
"Canadians are facing risks such as the spread of disease, more drought in the Prairies, melting permafrost in the North, longer and more intense heat waves and smog, and rising coastal waters," Johanne Gélinas
"Climate change is the single biggest issue challenge facing Canada," Morag Carter, director of the Suzuki Foundation's climate change programme.
"The blunt truth about the politics of climate change is that no country will want to sacrifice its economy in order to meet this challenge, but all economies know that the only sensible long term way of developing is to do it on a sustainable basis." Tony Blair
"We can debate this or that aspect of climate change, but the reality is that most people now accept our climate is indeed subject to change as a result of greenhouse gas emissions." Tony Blair
"What changed in the United States with Hurricane Katrina was a feeling that we have entered a period of consequences." Al Gore
"If we did not take action to solve this crisis, it could indeed threaten the future of human civilization. That sounds shrill. It sounds hard to accept. I believe it's deadly accurate. But again, we can solve it." (talking about the environmental crisis) Al Gore
"We have to shift our emphasis from economic efficiency and materialism towards a sustainable quality of life and to healing of our society, of our people and our ecological systems." Janet Holmes a Court
"Our nation has both an obligation and self-interest in facing head-on the serious environmental, economic and national security threat posed by global warming." John McCain
"Each passing day brings yet more evidence that we are now facing a planetary emergency, a climate crisis that demands immediate attention." Al Gore
"Climate change is a global challenge that demands a global response. Yet there are nations that resist, voices that attempt to diminish the urgency or dismiss the science, or declare, either in word or indifference, that this is not our problem to solve. Well, let me tell you, it is our problem to solve... To the reticent nations, including the United States, I say this: There is such a thing as a global conscience." Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, quoted in the L.A. Times
"The blunt truth about the politics of climate change is that no country will want to sacrifice its economy in order to meet this challenge," said Tony Blair. "If we can deal with this in the right way and have this informal mechanism then I think we can find a way of meeting what I believe is the clear desire of our people - which is to find a way of combining rising living standards with the responsibility to protect our environment."
"There is a very, very big connection between the emergence of new diseases and environmental change", said Nick Nuttall spokesperson for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
"Risk management demands that scientists describe and warn about seemingly extreme or alarming possibilities for any given scenario of human behaviour, such as increasing greenhouse gas emissions," Dr Pittock says. "The climate system will respond to the present increases in emissions over many decades to come. What we emit now will worsen the situation for decades into the future," he says.
"I believe that mankind has all the necessary skills, resources and ingenuity to tackle climate change effectively," wrote the Prince of Wales. "The question is not whether we can do this, but whether we will, and whether we will do so in time to affect the outcome."
"There is growing evidence that changes in the global climate will have profound effects on the health and well-being of citizens in countries throughout the world. We must better understand the potential health effects particularly for those who are most vulnerable, so that we can better manage the risks," said Dr Kerstin Leitner, WHO Assistant Director-General for Sustainable Development and Healthy Environments.