SUMMARY OF NEW IPCC FINDINGS ON CLIMATE CHANGE Implications for Oregon and Washington

3 p.On February 2, 2007, the UN-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released “Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis,” a comprehensive review of the current state of scientific knowledge about global climate change. The first of four technical reports to be released this year as part of the panel’s Fourth Assessment Report (AR4), the study reviews evidence of changes in the chemical composition of the atmosphere, evidence of warming of the climate system, understanding of the human contribution to the observed warming, and projections of changes to the global climate expected during this century. The evidence of change and confidence in the causes are far stronger than expressed in any previous report