‘Time running out’ as CO2 levels hit new high in Northern Hermisphere: UN

[DonViejo]

Source: Agence France-Presse

Geneva (AFP) 5/26/2014 6:21:07 AM

Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations have crossed a new threshold, the UN's weather agency said Monday, highlighting the urgency of curbing manmade, climate-altering greenhouse gases.

In April, for the first time, the mean monthly CO2 concentration in the atmosphere topped 400 parts per million (ppm) throughout the northern hemisphere, which pollutes more than the south, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said.

"This should serve as yet another wakeup call about the constantly rising levels of greenhouse gases which are driving climate change," WMO chief Michel Jarraud said in a statement.

"If we are to preserve our planet for future generations, we need urgent action to curb new emissions of these heat-trapping gases. Time is running out," he warned.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/05/26/time-running-out-as-co2-levels-hit-new-high-in-northern-hermisphere-un/

[Chakab]

1. Why don't they just starting giving us the predictions about how we're going to be directly affected

by this catastrophe in the immediate future?

There's not point in talking about how "time is running out." It's clear that the corporations and the governments of major countries aren't interested in doing a damn thing to curb CO2.

[Delphinus]

3. I think that

would serve us better.

[flvegan]

2. If only there were something we could do, almost immediately

(don't let the screen name give you any hints)

[obxhead]

6. Tons of petrochemicals are dumped on our crops as well.

Would it help? Maybe, but it would one very tiny cog in a vast and complex machine.

[Uncle Joe]

4. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, DonViejo.

[JVS]

5. Gee I'm torn. On one hand this should be acted on. But on the other hand, the only likely ...

action will be a carbon tax and some kind of cap and trade deal that allows the wealthy to make out like bandits while fucking everyone else over, so I'm disinclined to call for action.

[DLnyc]

12. Okay, you make the point that the rich always come out ahead.

However, I think that says we SHOULD act, not that we shouldn't. Since the rich come out ahead whether we act or not, it seems like we are better off with less less CO2 and the rich ahead, than with more CO2 and the rich still ahead. No?

Of course, better action might be a graduated tax on wealth and corporate size, with the proceeds used to build a carbon-free energy infrastructure. That, however, would take a social will that we don't seem to have.

[vkkv]

7. It's mostly ourselves that we are hurting - the planet will be fine

without us.

[Javaman]

8. Time has run out.

this is what happens when you have world filled with leaders that sit on their hands.

[2naSalit]

9. When

we the little people stop enabling the corporations who are killing us, we will have the option of survival.

Laws will not be sufficient at this point, it's the do-it-yourself action that will save you. Not all of us will manage to survive this but those who do survive will only because they didn't wait for legal action.

[olddad56]

10. it is a global problem and we live in a world that is so pollitically fractured that...

it pretty much renders the situation as hopeless. Just my opinion.

[zonkers]

11. And do all the insane people in the world -- whack job fundies, rabid capitialists... do you

think they give a shit. Party is over. Good bye earth, I hardly knew ya.

[blkmusclmachine]

13. Big Oil has a deathgrip on Washington DC and its politicos, so don't expect "Change!" anytime soon!

[alfredo]

14. Fear is a great motivator. Our leaders use it on us all the time.

They need to fear us more than they love petrol dollars.

[Lobo27]

15. Stuff like this makes me wonder at times if...

Having kids is cruel and unusual punishment. Going to leave them in a shit hole of a world. I'm hopeful that things would change. But I doubt its going to change anytime soon.

[ballyhoo]

16. We saw that long ago. About the

time of Reagan my wife and I decided to leave it at one. We thank God for that
decision every day. In retrospect, we wouldn't have had any. We basically gave her
a sentence.

[valerief]

17. Everyone needs more guns!!!!!! Cuz guns are the cure for everything.

[NickB79]

18. Correction: Time ran out 20 years ago

With the revelation that the Antarctic ice shelves are now in irreversible decline, and the Arctic is thawing and venting methane like a sieve, it's clear that the theory of 2 degrees C of warming as a "safe limit" is utter bullshit.

We haven't even warmed 1C yet, and we're already looking at a runaway greenhouse event that will end with palm trees in Alaska.

[blackspade]

19. We have already run out of time sadly.

We now have to pay the piper for our leaders' lack of vision....and corruption.

[Phlem]

20. Benghazi!!!

lets not forget the carbon trapped in permafrost. Soon as that melts everyone's going to say "Whuuut?"

This is old news, please everyone, catch up! No not Ketchup!

I'm afraid there's going to be a world of hurt before that last dregs figure it out.

Meanwhile: death and famine, and famine and death.

*Sigh*

-p

[WhiteTara]

21. I'm doing my part today...no ac

windows open and fans whirling.