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hatrack

(59,585 posts)
Fri Oct 31, 2014, 08:45 PM Oct 2014

IPCC: "Pervasive, Severe And Irreversible Impacts" On Climate, Food; US: "Ebola! AIIIIEEE!!"

A draft of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Synthesis report warns of "severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts for people, species and 27 ecosystems," unless action is taken, and taken soon.

To keep the temperature from rising above the two degrees threshold, net global emissions of carbon must drop 40-70% by 2050, hitting zero by the end of the century. This will mean limiting carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere to 450 parts per million (ppm) by 2100, according to the report. At present it hovers around 400 ppm, writes Scientific American.

If however nations do not cut emissions further, warming could exceed 4 degree C and result in "severe, widespread, and irreversible" impacts. It would lead to "substantial species extinction, global and regional food insecurity, consequential constraints on common human activities, and limited potential for adaptation in some cases," the report states.

On a hopeful note, the IPCC report goes on to say that even a 1.5 degree C target would be possible if nations adopt mitigation and adaptation strategies before 2030. The low targets would be possible if the world were to switch to renewable energy and adopt other measures.

EDIT

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/climate-change-ipcc-warns-species-extinction-food-insecurity-among-other-severe-impacts-inaction-1472207

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