In 2005 the eminent climate scientist Dr. James Hansen warned that: “We are on the precipice of climate system tipping points beyond which there is no redemption.” Three years later, we are now crossing some of those tipping points. In June 2008, Professor Barry Brook cautioned that even the most ambitious international greenhouse gas reduction targets might not prevent a catastrophic increase in temperatures: "Two degrees has the potential to lead to three or four degrees because of carbon-cycle feedbacks."
Unless we adopt the strongest measures — emergency measures as we argue in Climate Code Red — it will be too late. It is no longer a matter of how much more we can heat the planet, but how quickly can we cool it.
In a comment for Climate Code Red, James Hansen now says that "Recent greenhouse gas emissions place the Earth perilously close to dramatic climate change that could run out of our control, with great dangers for humans and other creatures. There is already enough carbon in the Earth’s atmosphere for massive ice sheets such as West Antarctica to eventually melt away, and ensure that sea levels will rise metres in coming decades. Climate zones such as the tropics and temperate regions will continue to shift, and the oceans will become more acidic, endangering much marine life. We must begin to move rapidly to the post-fossil fuel clean energy system. Moreover, we must remove some carbon that has collected in the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution."
Hansen and seven fellow scientists have circulated a paper making the precautionary case for global cooling and a swift return to 325 ppm atmospheric carbon. The response, according to former US Greenpeace deputy director Ken Ward, has been "a deafening silence" from most climate lobby groups. "As a matter of intellectual honesty, we have two options: endorse or refute [Hansen's call]. As a matter of environmental principle, there is no option, and the longer we remain silent, the greater the moral burden" and the more impossible it is to recognise what needs to be done, says Ward.
Hansen and his colleagues have set a challenge that cannot be ignored. Time is short and emergency action beckons as the only practical solution.
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