Pressure on the White House to act on scientific assessments of global warming mounted yesterday after the world’s largest general scientific society said that climate change was a ‘threat to society’. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) joined the growing clamour for political action in a public statement approved by its board. It is the first time that the AAAS, which represents 262 societies and scientific academies, has published a statement of consensus on climate change. It was issued on Sunday during a conference where a series of studies added weight to the body of evidence of human impact on the climate and environment. In the statement the association said: ‘The scientific evidence is clear: global climate change caused by human activities is occurring now, and it is a growing threat to society. ‘Accumulating data from across the globe reveal a wide array of effects: rapidly melting glaciers, destabilisation of major ice sheets, increases in extreme weather, rising sea level, shifts in species ranges, and more. ‘The pace of change and the evidence of harm have increased markedly over the last five years. The time to control greenhouse gas emissions is now. […]