Nobel Laureates Compare Climate Crisis to Threat from Nuclear Weapons
Prince Charles-hosted symposium says zero carbon economy is ultimate necessity and calls for urgent cuts in emissions
Twenty Nobel prizewinners, including US energy secretary Steven Chu, Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka, and Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai, have compared the threat of climate change to that posed to civilisation by nuclear weapons.
Borrowing a phrase from US civil rights leader Martin Luther King, they said at the end of a three-day climate change symposium hosted by Prince Charles in London: "We must recognise the fierce urgency of now. The evidence is compelling for the range and scale of climate impacts that must be avoided, such as droughts, sea level rise and flooding leading to mass migration and conflict. The scientific process, by which this evidence has been gathered, should be used as a clear mandate to accelerate the actions that need to be taken. Political leaders cannot possibly ask for a more robust, evidence-based call for action."
The laureates, who included physics and chemistry Nobel winners, called for urgent reduction in emissions. "Without directing current economic recovery resources wisely, and embarking on a path towards a low carbon economy, the world will have lost the opportunity to meet the global sustainability challenge. Decarbonising our economy offers a multitude of benefits, from addressing energy security to stimulating unprecedented technological innovation. A zero carbon economy is an ultimate necessity and must be seriously explored now."
...The St James's Palace Memorandum urged politicians to make far faster and deeper emission cuts than most countries were contemplating. "[There must be] a peak of global emissions of all greenhouse gases by 2015 and at least a 50% emission reduction by 2050 on a 1990 baseline. This in turn means that developed countries have to aim for a 25-40% reduction by 2020. A robust measure of assessing the necessary emission reductions is a total carbon budget, which should be accepted as the base for measuring the effectiveness of short-term (2020) and long-term (2050) targets.
They also called for an emergency package to provide "substantial" funding to tropical forest nations to help them halt deforestation....
May 29, 2009
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/29/prince-charles-nobel-laureates
Read the St James's Palace Memorandum:
http://www.alphagalileo.org/AssetViewer.aspx?AssetId=10406
28 May 2009
Pentagon Tells the President: Climate Change Needs To Be Top National Security Priority
Pentagon Tells President: Climate Change Will Destroy Us
The report - titled An Abrupt Climate Change Scenario and Its Implications for United States National Security [secretly published in October 2003 - publicly available from link below] - begins, "there is substantial evidence to indicate that significant global warming will occur during the 21sth century." Without mincing words, or overstating the case, it calls climate change a "U.S. national security concern" and warns the Defense Department against going forward without being prepared for severe climate consequences that could alter the political and economic states of nations across the globe, destabilizing regions and provoking conflict.
Climate change over the next 20 years could result in a global catastrophe costing millions of lives in wars and natural disasters.
[The] secret report, suppressed by US defence chiefs...warns that major European cities will be sunk beneath rising seas as Britain is plunged into a 'Siberian' climate by 2020. Nuclear conflict, mega-droughts, famine and widespread rioting will erupt across the world.
The document predicts that abrupt climate change could bring the planet to the edge of anarchy as countries develop a nuclear threat to defend and secure dwindling food, water and energy supplies. The threat to global stability vastly eclipses that of terrorism, say the few experts privy to its contents.
'Disruption and conflict will be endemic features of life,' concludes the Pentagon analysis. 'Once again, warfare would define human life.'
...Climate change 'should be elevated beyond a scientific debate to a US national security concern', say the authors, Peter Schwartz, CIA consultant and former head of planning at Royal Dutch/Shell Group, and Doug Randall of the California-based Global Business Network.
An imminent scenario of catastrophic climate change is 'plausible and would challenge United States national security in ways that should be considered immediately', they conclude. As early as next year widespread flooding by a rise in sea levels will create major upheaval for millions.
Now the Pentagon Tells Bush: Climate Change Will Destroy Us
February 22, 2004
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2004/feb/22/usnews.theobserver
New Report on Climate Change: Be Prepared
Updated: February 26, 2007
http://www.edf.org/article.cfm?contentID=3567
for complete Pentagon Report:
An Abrupt Climate Change Scenario and Its Implications for United States National Security
http://www.environmentaldefense.org/documents/3566_AbruptClimateChange.pdf
The report - titled An Abrupt Climate Change Scenario and Its Implications for United States National Security [secretly published in October 2003 - publicly available from link below] - begins, "there is substantial evidence to indicate that significant global warming will occur during the 21sth century." Without mincing words, or overstating the case, it calls climate change a "U.S. national security concern" and warns the Defense Department against going forward without being prepared for severe climate consequences that could alter the political and economic states of nations across the globe, destabilizing regions and provoking conflict.
Climate change over the next 20 years could result in a global catastrophe costing millions of lives in wars and natural disasters.
[The] secret report, suppressed by US defence chiefs...warns that major European cities will be sunk beneath rising seas as Britain is plunged into a 'Siberian' climate by 2020. Nuclear conflict, mega-droughts, famine and widespread rioting will erupt across the world.
The document predicts that abrupt climate change could bring the planet to the edge of anarchy as countries develop a nuclear threat to defend and secure dwindling food, water and energy supplies. The threat to global stability vastly eclipses that of terrorism, say the few experts privy to its contents.
'Disruption and conflict will be endemic features of life,' concludes the Pentagon analysis. 'Once again, warfare would define human life.'
...Climate change 'should be elevated beyond a scientific debate to a US national security concern', say the authors, Peter Schwartz, CIA consultant and former head of planning at Royal Dutch/Shell Group, and Doug Randall of the California-based Global Business Network.
An imminent scenario of catastrophic climate change is 'plausible and would challenge United States national security in ways that should be considered immediately', they conclude. As early as next year widespread flooding by a rise in sea levels will create major upheaval for millions.
Now the Pentagon Tells Bush: Climate Change Will Destroy Us
February 22, 2004
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2004/feb/22/usnews.theobserver
New Report on Climate Change: Be Prepared
Updated: February 26, 2007
http://www.edf.org/article.cfm?contentID=3567
for complete Pentagon Report:
An Abrupt Climate Change Scenario and Its Implications for United States National Security
http://www.environmentaldefense.org/documents/3566_AbruptClimateChange.pdf
14 May 2009
Climate Change Biggest Threat to Health
Climate Change Biggest Threat to Health, Doctors Say
Senior doctors today published a report warning that climate change is the biggest threat to global health of the 21st century.
Rising global temperatures would have a catastrophic effect on human health, the doctors said, and patterns of infection would change, with insect-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever spreading more easily.
Heatwaves such as occurred in Europe in 2003, which caused up to 70,000 "excess" deaths, will become more common, as will hurricanes, cyclones and storms, causing flooding and injuries.
"We have not just underestimated but completely neglected and ignored this issue," said Richard Horton, editor of the Lancet, which published the report commissioned from University College London...
13 May 2009
for complete article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/13/climate-change-health-impact
Senior doctors today published a report warning that climate change is the biggest threat to global health of the 21st century.
Rising global temperatures would have a catastrophic effect on human health, the doctors said, and patterns of infection would change, with insect-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever spreading more easily.
Heatwaves such as occurred in Europe in 2003, which caused up to 70,000 "excess" deaths, will become more common, as will hurricanes, cyclones and storms, causing flooding and injuries.
"We have not just underestimated but completely neglected and ignored this issue," said Richard Horton, editor of the Lancet, which published the report commissioned from University College London...
13 May 2009
for complete article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/13/climate-change-health-impact
02 May 2009
Call for Fishing Ban in a Third of Oceans
Call for Fishing Ban in a Third of Oceans
A third of the world's oceans must be closed to fishing if depleted stocks are to recover, scientists and conservation groups have warned. Such a measure could "set the clock back 200 years" and reverse the decline in fish populations, after which responsible fisheries management could regenerate the industry.
Callum Roberts, Professor of Marine Conservation at the University of York, has reviewed 100 scientific papers identifying the scale of closure needed. "All are leaning in a similar direction," he says, "which is that 20 to 40% of the sea should be protected." Friends of the Earth, the Marine Conservation Society and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds all support the idea of a 30% closure. "What we would see is a flourishing of life," Roberts says. "In 20 years, we could get to a point where a lot of species are in a far more productive state."
The proposal comes in the wake of a green paper calling for radical reform of the Common Fisheries Policy, which EU ministers admit has failed. It reveals that 88% of EU stocks are overfished (against a global average of 25%) while 30% are "outside safe biological limits" – meaning they cannot reproduce as normal because the parenting population is too depleted. In the North Sea, 93% of cod are fished before they have had a chance to breed.
April 26, 2009
for complete article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/26/fishing-stocks-protection-conservation
A third of the world's oceans must be closed to fishing if depleted stocks are to recover, scientists and conservation groups have warned. Such a measure could "set the clock back 200 years" and reverse the decline in fish populations, after which responsible fisheries management could regenerate the industry.
Callum Roberts, Professor of Marine Conservation at the University of York, has reviewed 100 scientific papers identifying the scale of closure needed. "All are leaning in a similar direction," he says, "which is that 20 to 40% of the sea should be protected." Friends of the Earth, the Marine Conservation Society and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds all support the idea of a 30% closure. "What we would see is a flourishing of life," Roberts says. "In 20 years, we could get to a point where a lot of species are in a far more productive state."
The proposal comes in the wake of a green paper calling for radical reform of the Common Fisheries Policy, which EU ministers admit has failed. It reveals that 88% of EU stocks are overfished (against a global average of 25%) while 30% are "outside safe biological limits" – meaning they cannot reproduce as normal because the parenting population is too depleted. In the North Sea, 93% of cod are fished before they have had a chance to breed.
April 26, 2009
for complete article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/26/fishing-stocks-protection-conservation
Climate Scientists Warn of Looming Disaster
Climate Scientists Warn of Looming Disaster
To avoid dangerous climate change of 2C, the world can only burn another half a trillion tonnes of carbon, climate change experts warn...
Scientists have worked out how much greenhouse gas the world can emit in total without tipping climate change towards catastrophic levels of warming and have warned the world is on course for disaster.
Even the most drastic emissions cuts currently being discussed stand little chance of limiting global warming to safe levels, two studies by scientists in Oxford and Germany have found, prompting calls for a radical rethink on how to tackle climate change.
The findings, to be published on Thursday in the peer review journal Nature, mean that less than a quarter of the world’s proven and economically recoverable fossil fuel reserves can be burnt between now and 2050 to avoid a jump of more than 2ºC above pre-industrial levels, widely regarded by scientists as the limit of safety.
To remain on track with this “carbon budget” Canada would have to leave its oil sands untapped and Saudi Arabia would need to leave most of its oil reserves in the ground to avert disaster...
April 29, 2009
for complete articles:
Climate scientists warn of looming disaster
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6e0372f6-34d4-11de-940a-00144feabdc0.html
Climate countdown: Half a trillion tonnes of carbon left to burn
To avoid dangerous climate change of 2C, the world can only burn another half a trillion tonnes of carbon, climate change experts warn
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/29/fossil-fuels-trillion-tonnes-burned
To avoid dangerous climate change of 2C, the world can only burn another half a trillion tonnes of carbon, climate change experts warn...
Scientists have worked out how much greenhouse gas the world can emit in total without tipping climate change towards catastrophic levels of warming and have warned the world is on course for disaster.
Even the most drastic emissions cuts currently being discussed stand little chance of limiting global warming to safe levels, two studies by scientists in Oxford and Germany have found, prompting calls for a radical rethink on how to tackle climate change.
The findings, to be published on Thursday in the peer review journal Nature, mean that less than a quarter of the world’s proven and economically recoverable fossil fuel reserves can be burnt between now and 2050 to avoid a jump of more than 2ºC above pre-industrial levels, widely regarded by scientists as the limit of safety.
To remain on track with this “carbon budget” Canada would have to leave its oil sands untapped and Saudi Arabia would need to leave most of its oil reserves in the ground to avert disaster...
April 29, 2009
for complete articles:
Climate scientists warn of looming disaster
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6e0372f6-34d4-11de-940a-00144feabdc0.html
Climate countdown: Half a trillion tonnes of carbon left to burn
To avoid dangerous climate change of 2C, the world can only burn another half a trillion tonnes of carbon, climate change experts warn
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/29/fossil-fuels-trillion-tonnes-burned
Climate Change Hitting Entire Arctic Ecosystem
Climate Change Hitting Entire Arctic Ecosystem, Says Report
Levels of summer sea ice in the Arctic have drastically reduced since 2005
Extensive climate change is now affecting every form of life in the Arctic, according to a major new assessment by international polar scientists.
In the past four years, air temperatures have increased, sea ice has declined sharply, surface waters in the Arctic ocean have warmed and permafrost is in some areas rapidly thawing.
In addition, says the report released today at a Norwegian government seminar, plants and trees are growing more vigorously, snow cover is decreasing 1-2% a year and glaciers are shrinking.
Scientists from Norway, Canada, Russia and the US contributed to the Arctic monitoring and assessment programme (Amap) study, which says new factors such as "black carbon" – soot – ozone and methane may now be contributing to global and arctic warming as much as carbon dioxide...
...The report's main findings are:
Land
Permafrost is warming fast and at its margins thawing. Plants are growing more vigorously and densely. In northern Alaska, temperatures have been rising since the 1970s. In Russia, the tree line has advanced up hills and mountains at 10 metres a year. Nearly all glaciers are decreasing in mass, resulting in rising sea levels as the water drains to the ocean.
Summer sea ice
The most striking change in the Arctic in recent years has been the reduction in summer sea ice in 2007. This was 23% less than the previous record low of 5.6m sq kilometres in 2005, and 39% below the 1979-2000 average. New satellite data suggests the ice is much thinner than it used to be. For the first time in existing records, both the north-west and north-east passages were ice-free in summer 2008. However, the 2008 winter ice extent was near the year long-term average.
Greenland
The Greenland ice sheet has continued to melt in the past four years with summer temperatures consistently above the long-term average since the mid 1990s. In 2007, the area experiencing melt was 60% greater than in 1998. Melting lasted 20 days longer than usual at sea level and 53 days longer at 2-3,000m heights.
Warmer waters
In 2007, some ice-free areas were as much as 5C warmer than the long-term average. Arctic waters appear to have warmed as a result of the influx of warmer waters from the Pacific and Atlantic. The loss of reflective, white sea ice also means that more solar radiation is absorbed by the dark water, heating surface layers further.
Black carbon
Black carbon, or soot, is emitted from inefficient burning such as in diesel engines or from the burning of crops. It is warming the Arctic by creating a haze which absorbs sunlight, and it is also deposited on snow, darkening the surface and causing more sunlight to be absorbed.
April 28, 2009
for complete article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/28/climate-change-poles
Levels of summer sea ice in the Arctic have drastically reduced since 2005
Extensive climate change is now affecting every form of life in the Arctic, according to a major new assessment by international polar scientists.
In the past four years, air temperatures have increased, sea ice has declined sharply, surface waters in the Arctic ocean have warmed and permafrost is in some areas rapidly thawing.
In addition, says the report released today at a Norwegian government seminar, plants and trees are growing more vigorously, snow cover is decreasing 1-2% a year and glaciers are shrinking.
Scientists from Norway, Canada, Russia and the US contributed to the Arctic monitoring and assessment programme (Amap) study, which says new factors such as "black carbon" – soot – ozone and methane may now be contributing to global and arctic warming as much as carbon dioxide...
...The report's main findings are:
Land
Permafrost is warming fast and at its margins thawing. Plants are growing more vigorously and densely. In northern Alaska, temperatures have been rising since the 1970s. In Russia, the tree line has advanced up hills and mountains at 10 metres a year. Nearly all glaciers are decreasing in mass, resulting in rising sea levels as the water drains to the ocean.
Summer sea ice
The most striking change in the Arctic in recent years has been the reduction in summer sea ice in 2007. This was 23% less than the previous record low of 5.6m sq kilometres in 2005, and 39% below the 1979-2000 average. New satellite data suggests the ice is much thinner than it used to be. For the first time in existing records, both the north-west and north-east passages were ice-free in summer 2008. However, the 2008 winter ice extent was near the year long-term average.
Greenland
The Greenland ice sheet has continued to melt in the past four years with summer temperatures consistently above the long-term average since the mid 1990s. In 2007, the area experiencing melt was 60% greater than in 1998. Melting lasted 20 days longer than usual at sea level and 53 days longer at 2-3,000m heights.
Warmer waters
In 2007, some ice-free areas were as much as 5C warmer than the long-term average. Arctic waters appear to have warmed as a result of the influx of warmer waters from the Pacific and Atlantic. The loss of reflective, white sea ice also means that more solar radiation is absorbed by the dark water, heating surface layers further.
Black carbon
Black carbon, or soot, is emitted from inefficient burning such as in diesel engines or from the burning of crops. It is warming the Arctic by creating a haze which absorbs sunlight, and it is also deposited on snow, darkening the surface and causing more sunlight to be absorbed.
April 28, 2009
for complete article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/28/climate-change-poles
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