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Polarised

  • 14/01/2005

While policymakers mull over controlling emissions of greenhouse gases (ghgs), scientists are still squabbling about global warming. Some assert it is not happening. Others avow it is natural, not human-caused. They cite cosmic influences as key to climate change.

Attempts have also been made to refute the impacts of rising ghg levels. A June 2004 Nature paper by Raymond T Pierrehumbert of the University of Chicago, usa , states that even if carbon dioxide (co2) concentration is 550 times the present level (about 368 parts per million), de-glaciation (complete melting of ice sheets) is unlikely to happen. Such refutation flies in the face of the path-breaking report on climate change science finalised in January 2001 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (ipcc)

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