Computer Stimulation

The recent American Geophysical Union's annual meeting featured a talk that presented computer [simulations:simple] of planetary futures if human activity continued on its present course. Such meetings are generally [staid:stable] affairs. But the findings [motivated:educated] this scientist to title his presentation "Is Earth F**ked?" Meanwhile, halfway around the globe in Doha, climate change negotiators continued to [fiddle:toy] with treaty text as the planet gradually burns. While the negot iators may save the Kyoto Protocol to combat climate change as a stop [stopgap:sign] until a new [international:educational] treaty is negotiated in 2015, none of it is likely to be anywhere near enough. Emissions continue to rise ever faster, making it unlikely that average temperature [increases:rises] will fall below 2 degrees Celsius, the avowed target. Instead, the world is on course for at least 4 degrees C of warming.