PNAS Study - Planet Already Committed To 2.4C (4.3F) Mean Temperature Increase As Of 2005

[hatrack]

As of 2005 the Earth was already committed to rise of global mean temperatures by 2.4°C (4.3°F), concludes a new study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The conclusion is significant because the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned that a rise in global temperature by 1 to 3°C will lead to catastrophic consequences, including “widespread loss of biodiversity, widespread deglaciation of the Greenland Ice Sheet, and a major reduction of area and volume of Hindu-Kush-Himalaya-Tibetan glaciers, which provide the head-waters for most major river systems of Asia.” These glaciers, predicted to shrink considerably in the next few decades, provide food and water to over two billion people.


V. Ramanathan and Y. Feng of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California at San Diego argue that due to unique conditions in the Arctic, mean global temperature must be doubled to accurately reflect changes there. With a committed raise of nearly 5°C (9°F), the already diminishing sea-ice will continue to abate at alarming rates and the Greenland Ice Sheet may begin to crumble under climatic pressures. The researchers estimate the long-term exposure (thousands of years) of the Greenland Ice Sheet to a minimum warming between 1.9–4.6°C will lead to a complete melt of Greenland. Such a melt would raise sea levels by seven meters (23 feet).

Given the dire projections, Ramanathan and Feng warn that time is running out. Unless tough mitigation policies on greenhouse gases are put in place, the authors say the Earth will be locked into a rise of 3°C by 2030. They write that “CO2 mitigation polices are extremely critical if we want to limit further increases in the committed warming.”

EDIT

http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0915-hance_co2.html

[Gregorian]

1. Negative carbon emissions now!

That's autocomplete from another forum.

This puts politics into a relatively insignificant perspective. I don't mean to sound apathetic. That's not what I mean. I mean, while Rome burns, we're fiddling. Er, I mean, driving and consuming.

Edit- And I don't have a solution. For example------- I'm involved in a lawsuit right now. It is in the process of being appealed. That means that my attorney has to DRIVE to the appeal venue. That's hours of driving each way. This is an act that is totally unproductive. There will be no "real" outcome from his efforts. And so it goes all around the world. People driving and working to try and get Rove and Miers to comply with their legal orders. I just give this one thing as an example. And I use it because it's relatively trivial. It's not shipping. It's not manufacturing. It's not energy production.

And the unasked question is, who and where does the beginning start? Do I not go shopping for eggs tomorrow? Does my attorney not go the courthouse? We aren't going to engineer our way out of this in time. It's already too late. And I don't see an end in sight. Not in any meaningful timeframe. Especially with the world population increasing as I type.