Because of the carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel burning, the Earth's atmosphere and oceans are warming through what is known as the "greenhouse effect". Big changes are on their way which we have not yet seen because of the time taken for the oceans to warm. It is essential that human communities prepare to adapt to these changes e.g. in sea level rise, severe heat waves, and a greater frequency of climate extremes. The challenge to scientists is to learn enough about the complexities of the world's climate system to be able to project the climate's likely future. The nations and peoples of the world need to recognize the urgency of the many actions that can –and must- be taken.
The expert on global Climate Change Sir John Houghton, who is in Tenerife invited by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), will talk about all this on Friday, March 28th, at 19pm, at the Museo de la Ciencia y el Cosmos. This talk, entitled "Is it true that the human being is changing the climate?", will be in English, with simultaneous translation. Sir Houghton also will visit today the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos, in the island of La Palma.
Sir John Houghton is Prof. Emeritus of Atmospherical Physics, University of Oxford. He was Director of the Meteorological Office of the United Kingdom and founder of the "Hadley Centre", a computing and climate prediction center in Reading (UK). He was also the main driver of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) of the United Nations (Nobel Peace Prize 2007), whose Committee for Physics was president for nearly 15 years. He has received Honorary Doctorates of Science from a dozen universities and some major awards including the Albert Einstein World Award of Science (2009) and the Japan Prize (2006). He has written many technical publications on Climate Change and popular books as "Global Warming. The Complete Briefing". "In the Eye of Storm" is his autobiography, recently published.
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