Two glib indicators of global climate change surfaced on Groundhog Day.
Not one of North America's three groundhogs saw his shadow when he emerged this morning, signaling a veritable consensus that spring will come early this year.
But soon, our trusted groundhogs will be unemployed because spring will come early every year, if the IPCC's prediction of a 4-8ºC warming by the end of the century is accurate.
Today, the IPCC's more than 2,000 climate researchers from 100 countries (the largest peer-review exercise in the history of science) released their much-anticipated Fourth Assessment Report.
Public opinion (especially the 78% of respondents to a Globe and Mail poll who have noticed climate change they believe is related to global warming) indicates that Canadians are ready to listen to its grim forecast.
The IPCC's findings include evidence of increased sea level rise, rising global temperatures,widespread changes in precipitation amounts, ocean salinity, wind patterns and aspects of extreme weather including droughts, heavy precipitation, heat waves and the intensity of tropical cyclones.
However, Canadian pundit Rex Murphy is not convinced that mitigating such environmental degradation is not worth making an economic sacrifice.
Murphy questioned measures proposed by the Nobel Peace Prize nominee Al Gore, citing that Gore is no more authoritative on climate change science than Stephen Harper.
Sorry Rex, there is one glaring distinction between the views of Harper and Gore on climate change.
The views of a Nobel Peace Prize Nominee, who spent 20 years researching the issue, and over 2,000 international scientists are informed.
The views of an Albertan, climate change denying, Prime Minister, who relies on inflammatory anti-socialist rhetoric, while trying to convince Canadians he's jumped on the green bandwagon, are uninformed.
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