PATRICK O'DRISCOLL, USA TODAY - Declaring there is "no more time for
delay," an international panel of scientists urged the world's nations
Tuesday to stave off climate-change "catastrophe" by boosting
clean-energy research and sharply cutting industrial emissions that fuel
global warming. Otherwise, Earth this century could cross a climate
threshold or "tipping point that could lead to intolerable impacts on
human well-being," says the 166-page report prepared for the United
Nations. It was written by 18 experts in climate, water, marine science,
physics and other disciplines, seven of them Americans. . .
Without action, the panel says, a litany of harmful consequences awaits:
the spread of disease, less fresh water, more and worse droughts, more
extreme storms and widespread economic damage to farming, fishing and
forests. In the USA, which emits about 25% of the world's carbon
dioxide, it could mean more intense hurricanes, heat waves, wildfires
and droughts.
The two-year study, issued by the U.N. Foundation, says the risk of
tipping over that climate threshold rises sharply if Earth's temperature
increases 3.6 to 4.5 degrees above what it was in 1750 (it is 1.2
degrees above that point now). That year marked the start of the
Industrial Revolution. It led to the widespread burning of coal, oil and
other fossil fuels that generate carbon dioxide, the main heat-trapping
"greenhouse gas" blamed for global warming.
The scientists say a climate turnaround will take a huge effort. They
call for the world's carbon emissions to level off by 2015-2020, then to
be reduced by another one-third by the end of the century. Without
action, they say, temperatures could rise 11 degrees by 2100.
delay," an international panel of scientists urged the world's nations
Tuesday to stave off climate-change "catastrophe" by boosting
clean-energy research and sharply cutting industrial emissions that fuel
global warming. Otherwise, Earth this century could cross a climate
threshold or "tipping point that could lead to intolerable impacts on
human well-being," says the 166-page report prepared for the United
Nations. It was written by 18 experts in climate, water, marine science,
physics and other disciplines, seven of them Americans. . .
Without action, the panel says, a litany of harmful consequences awaits:
the spread of disease, less fresh water, more and worse droughts, more
extreme storms and widespread economic damage to farming, fishing and
forests. In the USA, which emits about 25% of the world's carbon
dioxide, it could mean more intense hurricanes, heat waves, wildfires
and droughts.
The two-year study, issued by the U.N. Foundation, says the risk of
tipping over that climate threshold rises sharply if Earth's temperature
increases 3.6 to 4.5 degrees above what it was in 1750 (it is 1.2
degrees above that point now). That year marked the start of the
Industrial Revolution. It led to the widespread burning of coal, oil and
other fossil fuels that generate carbon dioxide, the main heat-trapping
"greenhouse gas" blamed for global warming.
The scientists say a climate turnaround will take a huge effort. They
call for the world's carbon emissions to level off by 2015-2020, then to
be reduced by another one-third by the end of the century. Without
action, they say, temperatures could rise 11 degrees by 2100.
http://rssfeeds.usatoday.com/~r/UsatodaycomNation-
TopStories/~3/97047841/2007-02-27-global-warming_x.htm
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