A troubling new international report says the earth's oceans are warming and rising at an ever-increasing pace, and the world isn't ready for the result.

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change urged leaders to take climate change seriously with its latest report detailing the damage going on in the oceans.  Some of the information had been previewed earlier in the week:  Ice and glaciers are melting, oceans are rising and losing oxygen, therefore becoming more acidic.  This will result in less fish, less snow and ice, stronger and wetter hurricanes and other, nastier weather systems. 

Oh, and the sea level might be a meter higher than today, meaning many of the world's coastal cities are in trouble and some island nations will be rendered uninhabitable.

"The oceans and the icy parts of the world are in big trouble, and that means we're all in big trouble, too," said Princeton University Professor Michael Oppenheimer, one of the lead authors of the report.  "The changes are accelerating."

Other horrors awaiting us if something isn't done to curb global warming:  Marine life is likely to decrease 15 percent; fisheries can count on populations dropping by at least 21 to 24 percent by the end of the century.

"This report highlights the urgency of timely, ambitious, coordinated, and enduring action," said IPCC vice chair Ko Barrett, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's deputy assistant administrator for research.  "What's at stake is the health of ecosystems, wildlife, and importantly the world we leave our children