Tim Flannery, well known for his book, The WeatherMakers, recently was honoured with the epithet of "Australian Man of the Year". He is still speaking out about climate change.
Here's a link to his comments about the Feb 2nd International Panel on Climate Change report: http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/temperature-predictions-conservat...

Here is a quote:
"It could be worse than this - there's a 10 per cent chance of truly catastrophic rises in temperatures, so we're looking at six degrees or so," Prof Flannery said.

"That would be a disaster for all life on earth. Three degrees will be a disaster for all life on earth.

"We will lose somewhere between two out of every 10 and six out of every 10 species living on the planet at that level of warming.

"It will set in train a series of climate consequences that will run for a thousand years."

Prof Flannery said the clearest example of the IPCC's conservatism was its prediction the Arctic ice cap could disappear in summers by 2100.

"The actual trajectory we've seen in the Arctic over the last two years, if you follow that, that implies that the Arctic ice cap will be gone in the next five to 15 years. This is an ice cap that's been around for the last three million years," he said.

"Those predictions tell you a little bit about the conservatism of the IPCC, how rapidly the science is moving and how rapidly events in the real world are moving, far in advance I think of even the most sombre warnings by scientists working in this area."

He also brushed off the IPCC's use of the words "very likely" in relation to climate change having a human footprint.

"I don't think that that's an issue for debate any more," he said.

"It's our problem, we have to do something about it. We have the tools, we're so far we're lacking the will."

What do you think will make the will, political or personal, materialize?
Ian