World must fix climate in less than 10 years: UNDP - Reuters

Eugene

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Tue Nov-27-07 08:53 AM
Original message

World must fix climate in less than 10 years: UNDP - Reuters

Source: Reuters

World must fix climate in less than 10 years: UNDP
Tue Nov 27, 2007 7:09am EST

By Raymond Colitt

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Unless the international community
agrees to cut carbon emissions by half over the next
generation, climate change is likely to cause large-
scale human and economic setbacks and irreversible
ecological catastrophes, a United Nations report says
on Tuesday.

The U.N. Human Development Report issues one of the
strongest warnings yet of the lasting impact of climate
change on living standards and a strong call for urgent
collective action.

"We could be on the verge of seeing human development
reverse for the first time in 30 years," Kevin Watkins,
lead author of the report, told Reuters.

The report, to be presented in Brasilia on Tuesday, sets
targets and a road map to reduce carbon emissions before
a U.N. climate summit next month in Bali, Indonesia.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSN1948950620071127

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GliderGuider

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Tue Nov-27-07 09:21 AM
Response to Original message

1. A relevant comment from the "Growth is Madness" blog

Grim worldview from the deck of the Titanic

From a social, cultural, and structural perspective, the ugly truth is, very likely, that nothing can actually be done. The human species is very poorly organized, to say the least. Humanity is just not organized in such a way that there really is no practical possibility to respond to alarming reports such as this last one from the IPCC.

A swift review of the social, psychological, and cultural readiness to just continue polluting the environment in general, and deny, suppress, feign ignorance of or simply forget about the problematic aspects of modern natural science, will reveal to you a truth which may be hard to swallow: not only do individual persons and societies of humans continue like we have done for more than a century, we�re actually speeding up the process. We should be polluting less than we do, but end up polluting more, nevertheless.

Needless to say, I agree with this assessment.

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The2ndWheel

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Tue Nov-27-07 10:01 AM
Response to Reply #1

5. A glimmer of hope then

"Humanity is just not organized in such a way that there really is no practical possibility to respond to alarming reports such as this last one from the IPCC."

Imagine if we were organized in such a way. We would've completely done away with our habitat years ago.

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GliderGuider

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Tue Nov-27-07 10:05 AM
Response to Reply #5

6. Yes, organization is a two-edged sword all right.

Edited on Tue Nov-27-07 10:20 AM by GliderGuider

Personally I'm in favour of having as much chaos in the system as possible. It makes the system more resilient, more survivable and a whole lot more interesting.

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The2ndWheel

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Tue Nov-27-07 10:49 AM
Response to Reply #6

8. Obviously that would be too diverse and inefficient though

Depending on the perspective.

Couldn't agree with you more myself.

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tom_paine

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Tue Nov-27-07 09:27 AM
Response to Original message

2. Instead, Global Warming will allow us to drill oil and gas from the newly thawed Arctic

Watch and see if we don't!

:rofl:

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endarkenment

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Tue Nov-27-07 09:43 AM
Response to Original message

3. We will do nothing.

The plan is to let the disaster unfold.

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GliderGuider

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Tue Nov-27-07 09:55 AM
Response to Reply #3

4. Planned or not, the disaster is going to unfold.

Even planning to avoid it is, at this point, most unlikely to succeed. The best we can hope for now is that individuals and groups who are aware of the situation will start taking urgent steps to protect their small corner of the grand human experiment as best they can. Fortunately, as well as being our only option such efforts are feasible and should have a good probability of success - at least in the developed world.

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endarkenment

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Tue Nov-27-07 10:35 AM
Response to Reply #4

7. They are not actually idiots.

So while they send out their minions to deny global warming, they know full well that the science is valid and that the disaster is in fact going to happen. I won't let them off the hook on this. Their inaction is intentional and is going to be a crime against humanity (and that does not cover it, it is a crime against all life) that will dwarf the misdeeds of the 20th century.

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