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A critical meltdown of ice sheets and severe sea level rise could be inevitable because of global warming, the world’s scientists are preparing to warn their governments. New studies of Greenland and Antarctica have forced a UN expert panel to conclude there is a 50% chance that widespread ice sheet loss “may no longer be avoided” because of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Such melting would raise sea levels by four to six metres, the scientists say. It would cause “major changes in coastline and inundation of low-lying areas” and require “costly and challenging” efforts to move millions of people and infrastructure from vulnerable areas. The previous official line, issued in 2001, was that the chance of such an event was “not well known, but probably very low”.

The melting process could take centuries, but increased warming caused by a failure to cut emissions would accelerate the ice sheets’ demise, and give nations less time to adapt to the consequences. Areas such as the Maldives would be swamped and low-lying countries such as the Netherlands and Bangladesh, as well as coastal cities including London, New York and Tokyo, would face critical flooding.

The warning appears in a report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which assesses the likely impacts of global warming and will be published in April. A final draft of the report’s summary-for-policymakers chapter, obtained by the Guardian, says: “Very large sea level rises that would result from widespread deglaciation of Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets imply major changes in coastlines and inundation of low-lying areas, with greatest effects in river deltas.

“Relocating populations, economic activity and infrastructure would be costly and challenging. There is medium confidence that both ice sheets would be committed to partial deglaciation for a global average temperature increase greater than 1-2C, causing sea level rise of 4-6m over centuries to millennia.” Medium confidence means about a five in 10 chance.

The revelation comes as a new report points out that greenhouse gas emissions running into hundreds of millions of tonnes have not been disclosed by Britain’s biggest businesses, masking the full extent of the UK’s contribution to global warming. According to a report by Christian Aid, only 16 of Britain’s top 100 listed companies are meeting the government’s most elementary reporting guidelines on greenhouse gas emissions. As a result, almost 200m tonnes of damaging CO2 is estimated to be missing from the annual reports of FTSE 100 companies. The figure is more than the annual reported emissions of Pakistan and Greece combined.

This month the IPCC published a separate study on the science of climate change, which concluded that humans are “very likely” to be responsible for most of the recent warming, and that average temperatures would probably increase by 4C this century if emissions continue to rise. Even under its most optimistic scenario, based on a declining world population and a rapid switch to clean technology, temperatures are still likely to rise by 1.8C.

The new report is expected to say this means there is “a significant probability that some large-scale events (eg deglaciation of major ice sheets) may no longer be avoided due to historical greenhouse gas emissions and the inertia of the climate system”. Scientists involved with the IPCC process cannot talk publicly about its contents before publication. But a senior author on the report said: “It’s not rocket science to realise that with the numbers coming out from the IPCC [science report], the warming by the end of the century is enough to do that.” The report’s conclusion poses a conundrum for governments of how to address a problem that is inevitable but may not occur for hundreds or thousands of years. “That’s for the policy makers to decide but it really is a very difficult question,” the source said. “Those are moral questions and the answer you give will depend very much on which part of the world you live in.”

Jonathan Overpeck, a climate scientist at the University of Arizona, said the key question was not whether the ice sheets would break up, but how quickly. Some models suggest rapid melting that would bring sea level rises of more than a metre per century. “That would be much harder for us to cope with,” he says.

The IPCC science report predicted sea level rises of up to 0.59m by the end of the century. But that does not include the possible contribution from ice sheets, because the experts judged it too unpredictable to forecast over short timescales.

Do you really know what goes into your food? Discover the advantages of organic food on this site and see exactly what producers have been adding to your fruit and vegetables to make it less healthy than a few years ago.

In the rush to produce more and more crops to satisfy growing demand producers have had to resort to using a lethal cocktail of pesticides to control disease and insect attack.

Good news for their bank balances perhaps but not good news for your health, this is why you need to be informed of the advantages of organic food.

Did you know that if you consumed an average apple you would be eating over 30 pesticides, even after you have washed it?

The quality of food has definitely gone down since the second world war. For instance, the levels of vitamin C in today’s fruit bear no resemblance to the levels found in wartime fruit.

Organic food is known to contain 50% more nutrients, minerals and vitamins than produce that has been intensively farmed. Read more about this here.

You will have to eat more fruit nowadays to make up the deficiency, but unfortunately that means eating more chemicals, more detrimental affects on your health eating something that should be good for you!

Also don’t forget about the cocktail of anti-biotics and hormones that cattle and poultry are force fed.

What happens to those chemicals when the animal dies?

Digested and stored in human bodies is the answer, have you seen pictures of animals in severly cramped conditions in battery farms?

It just does not make sense to state that any animal kept in these conditions is healthy and produces high quality food.

If you are as worried as I am about the health of your family then you need to read the articles on this and seriously consider converting your family to the organic lifestyle with the organic food information you are going to learn on this site.

Trust me, once you try some organic produce and taste an apple the way it should be, and perhaps how you recall it tasting in your youth, you will never go back to mass produced fruit again.

Sure there are issues with availability and cost but with a bit of research you should be able to find local stores who stock organic produce.

Also, don’t forget about your local farmer, I’m sure you will be able to find one that has seen the light and opened up a farm shop to supply local residents.

You should be able to get some very keen prices from these shops, why not take a look around and see who is offering produce in your area?

Some more startling facts now. Pesticides in food have been linked to many diseases including:

Cancer
Obesity
Altzheimer’s
Some birth defects

Not a nice list is it? There are probably others but if you think about it, how can it be okay for you to eat chemicals and not expect some form of reaction in your body. Our bodies are delicately balanced wonderful machines. Any form of foreign chemical is bound to cause irritation at the least.

Please take advantage of the organic food articles and information on this site and do consider taking a closer look at what you are eating. It’s for your health after all!

5 Common myths surrounding organic vegetables safety

1. No nutritional difference between organic and conventional produce.

According to the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics the demand for organic foods are increasing due to consumers believing they are safer and healthier than conventional foods.

Even though there are still gaps and limits in scientific knowledge, what we do know is that fewer chemicals are used in small organic farming than conventionally grown alternatives.

It is well documented that residues remain on our conventional foods and consumed by us over decades, aids heavily to accumulating fatty tissue.

Organic food regulations prohibit hydrogenated fat, phosphoric acid, preservatives, colourings, hormones, antibiotics, GMOs and 7000 other artificial flavourings that are permitted in conventional food.

There is also the environmental issue to which the organic farming method lends its benefits. The use of drugs is restricted in organic farming which not only keeps animals healthy but results in cryptosporidium, listeria and almonella being a rare occurrence in organic foods.

There is a direct relationship between intensive cattle-rearing and E.coli which is virtually non-existent in organic beef, but kills over 200 Americans and Britons each year.

2.Consumers are paying too much for organic food?

This debate has grown since the days of comparing the price of an organic apple for a conventional apple. It seems that the ‘value’ of organic produce goes beyond its price tag.

Nutritionally and in relation to organic vegetables safety: In terms of dry weight and nutrients, organic food tends to have more in it Why?

Produce grown organically through modern methods of small organic farming must be done in enriched soil. The growth of a plant can be sped up by agrochemicals changing its structure to have more water in it. As a result, non-organic produce can sometimes shrink more on cooking as the water content dissipates.

Price: Average price difference is 20 per cent between organic and non-organic. However given that it can contain up to 26 per cent more dry matter (less water) could it actually be cheaper to buy organic?

Conclusion: It may still look like an apple you are actually buying less food if you don’t buy organic.
3. Organic food and weight loss.

Organic butter can still make you put on weight and clog up your arteries. Organic sweets and sugar will still rot your teeth. However, certain kinds of organic food based nutrients found in vegetable broth can act as appetite suppressants as it does not contain excitotoxins. What are excitotoxin? These ingredients can cause neurological disorders by overexciting nerve cells and so causing hunger and concerns over organic vegetables safety if taken too literally.

Ingredients such as vegetable proteins, autolyzed yeast extract, MSG, yeast extract and others. This is perhaps more important in babies who can eat five times the amount of food per kg as an adult. Therefore, making sure they eat correctly and to not overeat is nowadays a growing concern. Babies in particular eat far more fruit and vegetables than most adults and are the very foods most likely to be covered in agrichemical residues.

4. The public is happy with regular, non-organic produce

Some say that the public is happy with what’s on the supermarket shelves, however various consumer surveys in Europe show many people are worried about pesticides, NPK fertilizers in small organic farming and processed food in general. In the United Kingdom a survey found 44% of all consumers were concerned about pesticides and 43% about the use of food additives (Food Standards Agency, 2003). This suggests that organic food based nutrients is something which people are taking more notice of.

5. Organic farming increases the risk of food poisoning.

The Department of Nutrition in Greece said:

“It is difficult…to weigh the risks, but what should be made clear to consumers is that ‘organic’ does not equal ’safe’.

Much of this was based on the theory that if we don’t use ‘modern’ day chemical pesticides that bacteria such as E Coli could not effectively be treated on crops. However studies made by S.K. Sagoo, C.L. Little & R.T. Mitchell on the microbiological quality of organic vegetables in UK small organic farming & demand showed that: “The majority (3185 of 3200; 99*5%) of samples were found to be of satisfactory/acceptable quality whilst only 15 (0*5%) were of unsatisfactory quality. Unsatisfactory results were due to Escherichia coli and Listeria spp…..The absence of pathogens and the low incidence of E. coli indicate that overall agricultural, hygiene; harvesting and production practices were good” this seems to enhance the organic vegetables safety record.

They suggested that the growth in the organic market has reflected an increase in the associated microbiological safety and similarly, organic vegetables safety.