TIME is running out, and fast. Rising carbon dioxide levels and higher temperatures will soon set in motion potentially catastrophic changes that will take hundreds or even millions of years to reverse.
That was the warning last week from climate scientists attending a conference in Exeter, UK. While sceptics snipe from the sidelines (see “Climate change: Menace or myth?”) and politicians prevaricate, researchers highlighted evidence that the danger is more pressing than was thought. “The sleeping giants are being woken,” several said.
The conference was called by the British government, currently chair of the G8 group of rich nations. It…
