Global warming 'is three times faster than worst predictions'

[RestoreGore]

http://environment.independent.co.uk/climate_change/article2609305.ece

Global warming 'is three times faster than worst predictions'
By Geoffrey Lean, Environment Editor
Published: 03 June 2007

Global warming is accelerating three times more quickly than feared, a series of startling, authoritative studies has revealed.

They have found that emissions of carbon dioxide have been rising at thrice the rate in the 1990s. The Arctic ice cap is melting three times as fast - and the seas are rising twice as rapidly - as had been predicted.

News of the studies - which are bound to lead to calls for even tougher anti-pollution measures than have yet been contemplated - comes as the leaders of the world's most powerful nations prepare for the most crucial meeting yet on tackling climate change.

snip

The study, published by the US National Academy of Sciences, shows that carbon dioxide emissions have been increasing by about 3 per cent a year during this decade, compared with 1.1 per cent a year in the 1990s.

The significance is that this is much faster than even the highest scenario outlined in this year's massive reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) - and suggests that their dire forecasts of devastating harvests, dwindling water supplies, melting ice and loss of species are likely to be understating the threat facing the world.

The study found that nearly three-quarters of the growth in emissions came from developing countries, with a particularly rapid rise in China. The country, however, will resist being blamed for the problem, pointing out that its people on average still contribute only about a sixth of the carbon dioxide emitted by each American. And, the study shows, developed countries, with less than a sixth of the world's people, still contribute more than two-thirds of total emissions of the greenhouse gas.

end of excerpt

[donco6]

1. It's all a lie.

At least, according to all the letters to the editor in my paper these days. Is there a campaign going on? I swear every day there's someone writing in to claim that there is no such thing as global warming, or that if there is, it's just a sun fart and there's nothing we can do but await God's judgment.

[Double T]

2. Denial is the greatest threat to global warming and climate change because..........

people are not taking it seriously and not altering their lifestyles to curb it.

[donco6]

3. I honestly think there's this nihilistic attitude . . .

coming from Fundamentalist Christians that's fueling this denial. "It's the end of the world and there's nothing you can do about it, so just let us keep on making money until the end."

[RestoreGore]

5. I agree

They think it is "God's will." That's why they don't think changing lifestyles will matter, because it's in God's hands. Nice cop out.

[Ilsa]

6. That's right, they need to keep raking in the dough because they know

that this is how God keeps score. Uh-huh.

[RestoreGore]

16. Dominionist Deniers

That is what I call them. Don't wonder now why they let people drown in New Orleans. According to the Dominionists running this government, if you are poor you deserve the wrath the God as the rich have been favored by him. And I kid you not.

[Ilsa]

22. Yeah, that and "Prayer of Jabez" mentality. Thanks - I forgot their name. nt

[RestoreGore]

23. Yes, and they make money off of this too...

Besides the book they sell "Jabez" key chains, mugs, backpacks, scented candles, mouse pads, and a line of jewelry. Nothing like exploiting the name of God for prophet, uh, I mean profit.

[Dogmudgeon]

7. It's not just the Fundies

A lot of meteorologists are anti-AGW. The gang at Accuweather.com have at least two outspoken "skeptical environmentalists," Joe Bastardi and Henry Margusity. Both are otherwise excellent meteorologists; Bastardi is politically outspokenly rightist, but Margusity has never mentioned his political persuasion, as far as I can tell.

I would estimate that at least half of the "Skeptics," who claim to be the defenders of science (and are frequently in combat with the Fundies), think it's "junk science". Penn Jillette, of Penn and Teller, thinks it's "Bullshit!™". Michael Shermer, editor of Skeptic magazine, himself only came around about a year ago (May 2006 Scientific American). Shermer I give credit to -- he owned up to the fact that he long disbelieved the evidence simply because he's a contrarian.

The libertarians, led by the Ayn Rand faction, also think of themselves as consummate rationalists, and the majority of them think that AGW and Climate Change is a liberal effort to institute a One-World Government. I kid you not.

Yes, everybody likes to be the prophet who bucks the crowd, but sometimes "the crowd" is right.

--p!

[donco6]

8. So what's Penn Jillette's deal?

I used to think his column in PC Mag was funny. This surprises me - although I could see him with the "contrarian" label as well.

[hatrack]

11. I'll take "Overpaid Assholes" for $500, Alex!

That would be my guesstimate re. Penn.

[Nihil]

19. We have a winner!

Penn, Teller, Randi and most of the other so-called "skeptics" are about
as unbiased as the Pope, George Bush and the head of Exxon. They think
that by behaving in the same way as their opponents but SHOUTING LOUDER,
they are somehow less bigoted - simply because they view themselves as
the opposite polarity.

Funny that ... we find some of the same behaviour here on DU!

[iamjoy]

9. Is Penn Still Anti Global Warming

He said some things in the episode on Nuclear Energy that made me think he'd come around to see the light on it.

But is true a lot of meteorologists do not believe human activity is primarily responsible for global climate change, or even that anything significant and unprecedented is occuring. To dismiss this as Conservative conspiracy is too easy. I personally think it's that meteorologists haven't been so good at telling me if it's going to rain tomorrow - no wonder they don't want to get into the long range models of global climate change. Or maybe it's that they are overthinking it, looking at too many factors. Or maybe, we're phrasing it wrong. We're putting it in absolutes or vague terms. We ought to put it in percentages - there's a 50% chance of rain tomorrow - there's a ??% chance human activity is at least partially responsible for global climate change.

[Delphinus]

17. Didn't I read somewhere on here,

just last week, that an official of NASA said (paraphrasing) there was absolutely nothing we could do about it? And that if we thought mankind was to blame, we were wrong? And who's to say which mankind the climate is good for - who makes that decision - which part of mankind?

[kestrel91316]

21. Accuweather is extremely RW. EXTREMELY red company.

[RestoreGore]

4. Yes, Science Vs Religion Again...

The Flat Earth Society still lives... and they are wrong again.

[hatrack]

10. "More quickly than feared" . . . Hmm . . . that sounds vaguely familiar!

:eyes:

[ramapo]

12. Can't say we weren't warned

1988 -- June 23 -- NASA scientist James Hanson and others warn Congress about possible consequences from global warming -- rising sea levels, drought and increased storm severity. Meanwhile, the World Meterological Organization and UN Environmental Program establish the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). At the World Conference on the Changing Atmosphere in Toronto, Canada, a resolution calls for global CO2 emissions reductions of 20% by 2005.. A United Nations resolution is approved characterizing climate as a "common concern of mankind."

Thank you George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and especially George W. Bush and the Republican Congress of the 1990s and 2000s for leading the fight against global warming.

An especially big thank you to the people of the United States who live by the rule of see no evil, hear no evil, everything is ok, party on.

[RestoreGore]

15. yes, denial is such a savior

And also, thank you to those in the Congress in the 70s who totally ignored then Senator Gore when he had Roger Revelle come up on the hIll to tell you what was coming. Good to know this planet means so much to so many.

[Dead_Parrot]

18. I'll see your 19 years and raise you 92...

"On the Influence of Carbonic Acid in the Air upon the Temperature of the Ground" (PDF) - Svante Arrhenius, 1896.

Needless to say, we shouldn't rush to any conclusions in these early days so soon after publication. Let's investigate for another century or two.

[ramapo]

13. Don't worry...we ARE taking action

This in my email this morning....

TICKETS RELEASED: Live Earth - Concerts For A Climate in Crisis

[RestoreGore]

14. yes, got mine when they first came out

[Reterr]

20. k&r.eom