General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsClimate change: world is reaching tipping point
http://www.iol.co.za/scitech/science/environment/climate-change-world-is-reaching-tipping-point-1.1264515Climate change: world is reaching tipping point
March 27 2012 at 10:20am
By Nina Chestney
London - The world is close to reaching tipping points that will make it irreversibly hotter, making this decade critical in efforts to contain global warming, scientists warned on Monday.
Scientific estimates differ but the world's temperature looks set to rise by six degrees Celsius by 2100 if greenhouse gas emissions are allowed to rise uncontrollably.
As emissions grow, scientists say the world is close to reaching thresholds beyond which the effects on the global climate will be irreversible, such as the melting of polar ice sheets and loss of rainforests.
This is the critical decade. If we don't get the curves turned around this decade we will cross those lines, said Will Steffen, executive director of the Australian National University's climate change institute, speaking at a conference in London.
Despite this sense of urgency, a new global climate treaty forcing the world's biggest polluters, such as the United States and China, to curb emissions will only be agreed on by 2015 - to enter into force in 2020.
..more..
FarCenter
(19,429 posts)1) population,
2) gross domestic product (GDP) per capita,
3) energy intensity (i.e., total primary energy supply (TPES) per GDP) and
4) carbon intensity (i.e., CO2 emissions per TPES). [1.1.4]
CO2 emissions = Population x (GDP/population) x (TPES/GDP) x (CO2/TPES)
The annual change in these four components is illustrated in Figure TS.1.2. [1.1.4]
From http://srren.ipcc-wg3.de/report/IPCC_SRREN_TS.pdf page 34.
sudopod
(5,019 posts)They've been working on this for decades. Google can probably help you out here.
It's not the OP's job to write a dissertation before he posts something you don't like.
FarCenter
(19,429 posts)And the solutions are pretty constrained. It is unlikely that anything other than a dramatic drop in population would curb CO2 significantly. The only non-carbon energy source which could substitute for carbon fuels at current levels of energy consumption would be nuclear -- and that's not happening.
So the choice is to decrease GDP/person or to decrease population.
1) It's not real.
2) It's real, but we didn't cause it.
3) TOO LATE LOL, nothing we can do, might as well carry on like we were.
Wiser heads than me saw this pattern coming for a long time. I just thought it would take longer to emerge.
truebrit71
(20,805 posts)...all we can do now is try and figure out how best to manage in a radically different world...
Control-Z
(15,681 posts)dancing, flashing or exploding ads on their front page I have trouble taking them seriously. I certainly don't stay and read while unwanted infectious malware is being downloaded to my computer. Sorry.