New Scientist: World starts to act on climate change

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327174.500-world-starts-to-act-on-climate-change.html

World starts to act on climate change

20 July 2009 by Fred Pearce

IT'S like a giant game of Jenga. One by one, pieces of our green future are stacking up, some more precariously than others.

At last week's summit in L'Aquila, Italy, leaders of the G8 declared formally for the first time that the world should not allow global temperatures to rise by more than 2 °C above pre-industrial levels. The group also backed Mexico's plan for a green fund to help the poorest countries develop clean-technology economies.

Meanwhile, in London this week, the shipping industry is meeting to see if it can agree on a way of cutting emissions. Come December, it will be down to UN negotiators to decide which pieces are solid and which are not.

Take the 2 °C target, for instance. The truth is that few climate scientists believe this is possible, even with the G8's proposed target of cutting global emissions of greenhouse gases by 50 per cent by 2050. "An overshoot is inevitable," concluded a recent climate science summit in Copenhagen, Denmark (New Scientist, 21 March, p 6). "Atmospheric CO₂ concentrations are already at levels predicted to lead to global warming of between 2.0 °C and 2.4 °C."

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[fascisthunter]

1. yay... the human race is evolving

except for right wingers... then again, they never evolved out of the Australopithecus stage.

[timeforpeace]

2. "few climate scientists believe this is possible" But they were ignored by the politicians.

[OKIsItJustMe]

3. "…they are prepared to live with some scientific fudge if it delivers political action."

…

Optimists believe that we are starting to see the bones of a new "green economy" that puts a price on carbon and uses the proceeds to drive down emissions. Many scientists are wary about whether it will achieve the goal of keeping global warming below 2 °C, but whatever their fears, they are prepared to live with some scientific fudge if it delivers political action.

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