Apr 04
The tipping points of Global Warming - are we there?
Being an environmentalist at heart and in practice, I read this article in USA Today that made my feel that the world we are passing on to generations after us will be totally different - ruined - in terms of what we have today. This article is worth reading and thinking about. Is there really anything we can do to help save the planet, save the way we live our lives today, or even take action to make changes that will result in stopping the impending environmental destruction caused by our past and present generations?
Is Earth near its ‘tipping points’ from global warming?
Earth is spinning toward many points of no return from the damage of global warming, after which disease, desolation and famine are inevitable, say scientists involved in an international report due Friday on the effects of climate change.
Opinions vary about how long it will take to reach those “tipping points” and whether attempts to cut planet-warming gases churned out by power plants, vehicles and other human industry can slow, halt or reverse the harmful effects in coming decades. Some suggest it might be cheaper for society to adapt to the changing climate than to roll back the pace of warming.
Click here for the complete article
April 4th, 2007 at 11:47 am
Key Thresholds from the article…
Worldwide, thresholds were outlined last year in “Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change,” a summary of tipping points for which British Prime Minister Tony Blair wrote the foreword. They include:
•At a 3.6-degree rise, all Indian Ocean coral reefs go extinct, and 97% of the rest around the globe are “bleached” or severely damaged. All Arctic ice disappears.
•At a 5.4-degree increase, half of all nature reserves become unable to conserve native species. The Amazon rainforest disappears.
•At 7.2 degrees or higher, coastal flooding is seven times worse than in 1990. Malaria threatens 330 million more people a year, and hunger jeopardizes 600 million. Australia no longer can grow food.
All of this leaves aside the most extreme risks that Schneider calls the “dark edge of the bell curve”: melting of the vast Antarctic ice sheets; shutdown of Atlantic Ocean circulation, which brings warm weather to the United Kingdom; and the release of more greenhouse gases frozen in the Arctic tundra.
April 6th, 2007 at 9:54 am
Final details were completed by hundreds of scientists in Brussels early this morning and approved by officials from more than 100 countries. The report, focusing on measured and projected effects of warming and possible responses.
The Report is due out today
http://www.ipcc.ch/