wait, what did you say? So in other words, I really shouldn't do anything at all, right now, or even ever without first . . . reading something . . . . something like . . . THIS: > This is not cool > Along with the Arctic ice, the rich world's smugness will melt", by George Monbiot > The Crossroads clearly before us: Global Warming's Terrifying New Math; by Bill McKibben > Here’s a story that should be the lead across the nation:
> Climate Change Is Happening Faster Than You Think > Already, traffic is increasing. In 2010, for example, the administrators of the Northern Sea Route granted permission for four vessels to transit the icy seaway. Last year, that total had risen to 46. Earlier this month, the figure stood at 270. > 5 Terrifying Statements in the Leaked Climate Report > Last Time Carbon Dioxide Levels Were This High: 15 Million Years Ago, Scientists Report > What Factors Determine Earth's Climate? > Earth more sensitive to CO2 than previously thought .
The NASA report I linked to earlier indicates that we will likely hit a 5C increase in temp much sooner than anyone expected . . . . wait, what did you say? . . . so . . . does that make you part of The Climate Change Denial Industry . . . Then, if you want to do something
BETWEEN TWO AND THREE DEGREES OF WARMING
. . . preventing mass starvation will be as easy as halting the cycles of the moon. First millions,
then billions, of people will face an increasingly tough battle to survive.
To find anything comparable we have to go back to the Pliocene – last epoch of the Tertiary
period, 3m years ago. There were no continental glaciers in the northern hemisphere (trees grew
in the Arctic), and sea levels were 25 metres higher than today’s.
We're currently about one fifth of the way to this 3C benchmark . . . The end of the world is nigh. A three-degree increase in global temperature – possible as early
as 2050 – would throw the carbon cycle into reverse. Instead of absorbing carbon dioxide, vegetation and
soils start to release it. So much carbon pours into the atmosphere that it pumps up atmospheric concentrations
by 250 parts per million by 2100, boosting global warming by another 1.5C. In other words, the Hadley
team had discovered that carbon-cycle feedbacks could tip the planet into runaway global warming by the
middle of this century – much earlier than anyone had expected.
BETWEEN FOUR AND FIVE DEGREES OF WARMING
. We are looking now at an entirely different planet. Ice sheets have vanished from both poles;
rainforests have burnt up and turned to desert; the dry and lifeless Alps resemble the High Atlas;
rising seas are scouring deep into continental interiors. One temptation may be to shift populations
from dry areas to the newly thawed regions of the far north, in Canada and Siberia. Even here, though,
summers may be too hot for crops to be grown away from the coasts; and there is no guarantee that
northern governments will admit southern refugees.
Then, if you want to do something
?