IPCC Climate Change Report: Official prophecy of doom?

Hundreds of experts have funneled their work into the report from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that has just been released. Today we ask two Canadians involved with that work to take us through the implications for two of our lifelines, our ability to grow food and our access to water. And if it is the end of the world as we know it ... What Now?

"The one message that comes out very clearly is that the world has to adapt and the world has to mitigate ... and the sooner we do that, the less the chances of some of the worst impacts of climate change being faced in different parts of the world.".Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Today in Yokohama, Japan, scientists and policy-makers released a United Nations report on what they believe is humanity's future on a warmer earth. They say climate change has already left its mark on all continents and oceans. They point to damaged crops, slushy glaciers and the spread of disease. Rich and poor, rural and urban, the report suggests few people will remain unaffected.

• Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability -- IPCC Report

• Evan Fraser is Canada's Research Chair in Global Food Security with the department of geography at the University of Guelph. He was an expert reviewer for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report's chapter on Food Security and Food Production Systems. Evan Fraser was in Guelph, Ontario.

• Graham Cogley is one of the author's of the IPCC Report's chapter on fresh water resources. He is also Professor Emeritus of Geography at Trent University. Graham Cogley was in Toronto.

• Elizabeth May is the leader of the Green Party. She is also a long-time environmental activist, lawyer and writer who's tried to raise the alarm about climate change for years. Elizabeth May was in Ottawa.

It sounds really scary and my main concern about it, isn't so much that it is unrealistic but rather that it spurns a sense of hopelessness. I think whatever we need to do is really push back on that and find empowering ways to engage with youth that focus on building a really positive future with green jobs, focus on alternatives, and renewables rather than the dirty based track we are currently on.Kelsey Mech, Chair of the University of Victoria's Student Society

So how should individuals, institutions and societies respond to this disturbing report? We convened three guests - an Environmentalist, a Psychologist and an Anthropologist - to give us their take:

• Tzeporah Berman is a long-time environmentalist and author of This Crazy Time. She was in Vancouver.

• Sheldon Solomon is a social psychologist at Skidmore College who developed Terror Management Theory. He was in Saratoga Springs in New York.

• Patricia McAnany is a Kenan Eminent Professor at the Department of Anthropology at the University of North Carolina. We reached her in Brooklyn, Connecticut.

Share your thoughts with us on this discussion. What is your response to the IPCC report? Are the world's scientists being alarmist or simply, brutally honest?

Tweet us @thecurrentcbc. Or e-mail us through our website. Find us on Facebook. Call us toll-free at 1 877 287 7366.

And as always if you missed anything on The Current, grab a podcast.

This segment was produced by The Current Kristin Nelson and Sarah Grant.