Last Warning: Ten Years To Save World

And how many of those ten years will we now spend backbiting about who has the best solution, or arguing that it doesn't exist, or using it to make a profit at the expense of human life? We are making this planet UNINHABITABLE should we continue our ways, and that will lead to circumstances this country is nowhere near ready to face.

I can't think of ANYTHING more important than facing this NOW. There is no choice any longer, and we should not present this to people wrapped in a pretty box with a bow on it in order not to hurt their sensibilities. People MUST CHANGE THEIR WAYS or this planet will forever be changed in regards to our relationship with it, and that WILL have catastrophic affects on food, water, land, and our ability to live.

NO Presidential campaign or backbiting about it is more important than this. Those who make addressing this crisis and getting information to people about it the primary cause of this planet now from WHEREVER they do it are the ones who will help save it, and those who take it upon themselves to arm themselves with knowledge and use that knowledge for action.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Sunday Times January 28, 2007

Last warning: 10 years to save world
Jonathan Leake Environment Editor

Scientists say rising greenhouses gases will make climate change unstoppable in a decade

THE world has just 10 years to reverse surging greenhouse gas emissions or risk runaway climate change that could make many parts of the planet uninhabitable. The stark warning comes from scientists who are working on the final draft of a new report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The report, due to be published this week, will draw together the work of thousands of scientists from around the world who have been studying changes in the world’s climate and predicting how they might accelerate. They conclude that unless mankind rapidly stabilises greenhouse gas emissions and starts reducing them, it will have little chance of keeping global warming within manageable limits.

The results could include the destruction of the Amazon rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef, the forced migration of hundreds of millions of people from equatorial regions, and the loss of vast tracts of land under rising seas as the ice caps melt. In Europe the summers could become unbearably hot, especially in southern countries such as Greece, Spain and Italy, while Britain and northern Europe would face summer droughts and wet, stormy winters.

“The next 10 years are crucial,” said Richard Betts, leader of a research team at the Met Office’s Hadley Centre for climate prediction. “In that decade we have to achieve serious reductions in carbon emissions. After that time the task becomes very much harder.”
Among the scientists’ biggest fears is that rising temperatures and levels of greenhouse gases could soon overwhelm the natural systems that normally keep their levels in check.

About half the 24 billion tons of carbon dioxide generated by human activities each year are absorbed by forests and oceans — a process without which the world might already be several degrees warmer. But as CO2 levels rise and soils dry, microbes can start breaking down accumulated organic matter, so forests become net producers of greenhouse gases. The sea’s power to absorb CO2 also falls sharply as it warms.

Page 1 || Page 2

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2569944,00.html

more here

Jesus Christ, the reason I wanted to stop Bush in 2000 so badly was because we did not have another four years to screw around on this.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?c110:1:./temp/~c110mZp7sI:e0:

Think it'll get anywhere, sadly I doubt it :(

And now all we will see are people in Congress vying for attention on this saying THEIR bill is the best (and of course, it can't be too hard on their special interests because after all, they have elections to win)... as the clock ticks away. That is why this is not a political issue but a moral one. So again, if we are looking to politicians to take the lead on a MORAL issue, that ten years will surely run out.

We could just simply restore Gore to his rightful place as leader of the freely producing CO2 world. Then we'd see a change in politics. I guarantee you, he'd slow down the C02 a bit.

And he has stated the same.

Look, they talk - at the end of the article - about the gentleman
who drives a green-pleasing Honda Jazz. That's all well and good,
but as China's 1.3 billion people, along with India's 1 billion
people, seek an energy affluent lifestyle complete with motorcars,
the problem will grow. Even producing the car contributes to the
generation of CO2.

The U.S. would have to completely remodel our society, abandoning
trillions of dollars worth of suburban infrastructure and (forcibly?)
migrating the suburban population to dense urban cores. Other
countries would have to abandon hopes of becoming energy affluent
societies.

And that's supposed to happen in 10 years? We'd have as good
a chance of evolving green skin and living on sunlight. It simply
isn't going to happen.

And for that, I'm truly sorry. The plants and animals deserved
better.

They were saying ten years two years ago...

We really don't know how much time we have.

I think we passed the Point of No Return a while ago. Now it's a matter of figuring out how to survive the cataclysm.

--p!

n/t

It is a soft light and doesn't give off a lot of heat. Threw the other ones away, but then I only have two lamps in my home. I have cut down tremendously and as a family we burn average carbon just a bit below the average figure of 7.9 tons on the climate crisis site, and my personal tons is 1.1 and I am even offsetting that. I guess you could say I'm committed to this. ;-)

Thanks for being a role model.

And I want him to know what stewardship to this planet is really all about and that it is his being a part of it. It is true that we are all connected and we are connected to the lifeforce of this Earth. The more we weaken the lifeforce of this planet, the more it affects us. And I am starting to make inroads with people around me. My letter to my community paper on this crisis which reached over 60,000 people has caused a few people in my community who know me to approach me and thank me for the letter. Our community paper is not one that usually gets letters about issues of importance, more about card partoes and the like, so people are approaching me and telling me that my letter was well thought out and needed, and that they are going to buy An Inconvenient Truth and go to the website to learn what they can do in their own lives to help. I couldn't be happier that I am doing something to bring awareness of this crisis to others, and that is what Al Gore is asking us to do. Thanks for your comment.

I just heard on Prairie Home Companion, Garrison Keillor was saying that it's hard to compete with the news. The gist of it was that Bush flew Air Force One, a Boeing 747, from DC to Wilmington, DE, a total of 101 miles to talk about cutting dependency on (foreign) oil.
So I checked it out, here's a link to a story: http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070125/NEWS/701250365/1006

What kind of message is he sending if he has to FLY 202 miles round trip, to talk about conservation. He doesn't know the meaning of conservation.

I think he needs a brain augmentation, not a troop augmentation!

I read it, but I still don't quite believe it.

Actually, I do believe it, but the mind boggles. Mine in particular.

--p!

And we now must go around the Federal governnment to get every state in this country to pass a comprehensive climate change bill to show him that we don't need him. The PEOPLE can do this if they really want to.

Has known this, which is why they decided to get all of the resources. The question is, who are the resources for? They have no intention of reversing this or addressing it in any meaningful way, and there is no question that they must know the same information - think about it, they are silencing our scientists. The question remains then, if they know, why do they do nothing? In fact, they are making it worse, are they not? I think it is because they really have done a Pinto type of analysis and decided that they can save X amount of people and still have enough wealth for the remaining 10-15 years. So how are they deciding who to save?

"If we do not take action in the next decade, by 2100 swathes of the ocean could have been stripped of creatures from plankton to coral reefs," she said. "Such changes would devastate ecosystems and fisheries."

This isn't the type of information that's going to make non-believers sit up and take notice. Unless the scientists can talk about the changes on a level that affects the non-believers, you know, hit them where it hurts, I don't see them ever getting it.

Plus, it doesn't take into account the fundies - like Frosty Woodbridge(?), the guy who stopped Seattle Public Schools from showing the film "An Inconvenient Truth" - who believe this is all part of "God's plan" because it's in the bible.

It is hard NOT to despair.

whatsoever that we're about to get serious about protecting the environment, other species, and ultimately ourselves . . .

And that is why Al Gore has started the Climate Project and believes his inspiration in the grassroots is what is needed now to bring that awareness to the people to see the moral implications of their not doing anything about it, which hopefully will then force the changes necessary to deal with this crisis effectively. He is most definitely on the right road. I only wish more people were actually interested in that rather than just spouting the same mantra everyday.

do you think he'll run? I'm guessing you're following his moves pretty closely...

I think he is truly committed to this and sees the immensity of what we face regarding truly mitigating this crisis and that we are running out of time to do that. I recall an interview he did last June on Charlie Rose where he said that once you see the immensity of this crisis worldwide, running for President doesn't compare. And in a system such as ours, even climate change bills will be a dime a dozen now and I suspect most of them will still not be too hard on oil companies and other benefactors. I mean, Bush calls for only a 20% hike in ethanol use in ten years? Please, these people on Capitol Hill are so out of touch with reality and so beholding to interests to keep their political lives afloat, it would take twice as long for Mr. Gore to make any real inroads there as opposed to what he could and has already done out here. And I wholeheartedly agree with him that it is the issue that must come first, and I respect him immensely for being so dedicated to this and putting any other ambitions he may have aside to pursue it. That is the mark of a truly great man to me.

Which is a shame, because I'd love to see him in the right office. Dammit, where's that Raelian cloning machine when you need it? :silly: