Climate change, justice and faith | John Houghton
The effects of climate change will fall hardest on the developing world. Our sense of justice demands we act nowThere is compelling evidence that the world is warming and the climate changing – largely because of human activities in burning coal, oil and gas. Through the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world scientific community has been able to give detailed information about what is likely to happen.Increased global temperatures make climate extremes more likely. For instance, a heat wave in central Europe in 2003 of unprecedented intensity led to the premature deaths of over 20,000 people. Higher temperatures also lead to more energy entering the atmosphere's circulation that in turn brings more frequent and intense floods, droughts and storms. Further, because ocean water expands as it warms and because of increased melting of ice in polar regions, the sea level is rising at a rate of about one...
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