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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsScientific American: Have We Passed the Point of No Return on Climate Change?
Last edited Tue Apr 14, 2015, 05:47 AM - Edit history (1)
While we may not yet have reached the point of no returnwhen no amount of cutbacks on greenhouse gas emissions will save us from potentially catastrophic global warmingclimate scientists warn we may be getting awfully close. Since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution a century ago, the average global temperature has risen some 1.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Most climatologists agree that, while the warming to date is already causing environmental problems, another 0.4 degree Fahrenheit rise in temperature, representing a global average atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) of 450 parts per million (ppm), could set in motion unprecedented changes in global climate and a significant increase in the severity of natural disastersand as such could represent the dreaded point of no return.
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Environmental leaders point out that this doesnt give us much time to turn the tide. Greenpeace, a leading environmental advocacy group, says we have until around 2020 to significantly cut back on greenhouse gas output around the worldto the tune of a five percent annual reduction in emissions overallif we are to avoid so-called runaway climate change. The world is fast approaching a 'point of no return' beyond which extremely dangerous climate change impacts can become unavoidable, reports the group. Within this time period, we will have to radically change our approach to energy production and consumption.
In a recent lecture at Georgetown University, World Bank president Jim Yong Kim reported that whether we are able to cut emissions enough to prevent catastrophe likely depends on the policies of the worlds largest economies and the widespread adoption of so-called carbon pricing systems (such as emissions trading plans and carbon taxes). International negotiators meeting in Paris next December are already working to hammer out an agreement mandating that governments adopt these types of systems to facilitate emissions reductions. A price on carbon is the single most important thing we have to get out of a Paris agreement, Kim stated. It will unleash market forces.
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Without additional mitigation, and even with adaptation, warming by the end of the 21st century will lead to high to very high risk of severe, widespread and irreversible impacts globally, reports the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an international group of leading climate experts convened by the United Nations to review and assess the most recent scientific, technical and socio-economic information on global warming. Indeed, theres no time like the present to start changing our ways.
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http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/have-we-passed-the-point-of-no-return-on-climate-change/
etherealtruth
(22,165 posts)It is a great article
hatrack
(59,594 posts)Let's hand this off to Wall Street - they'll be certain to find 1,001 ways to short-sell, flip, leverage and distort the exciting new carbon market, and I'm sure they'll make lots and lots of money.
And in the end, that's the only thing that matters, right?
bemildred
(90,061 posts)And there is no going back, it's a chaotic system.
Quantess
(27,630 posts)K & R