James Lovelock - Diplomats Fiddling With Figures While Earth Burns - Times of London

[hatrack]

EDIT

Lovelock believes that the transformation is happening far too fast for humanity to tackle, especially in a world that remains committed to economic growth and whose 6.5 billion population is predicted to reach more than 9 billion by mid-century.

For evidence, he points to Siberia where the melting of the permafrost, already widely reported in scientific literature, will enable bacteria to decompose organic matter that has accumulated in the soil over tens of millions of years – potentially releasing billions more tons of CO2 “I have just come back from Norway where the temperatures are even further above normal than Britain’s. The climate is changing every year now. Everyone can see it – as in this very warm April. By mid-century the heatwave that killed 20,000 people in 2003 will be a cool summer by comparison.”

At first sight Lovelock’s predictions seem wildly at odds with the IPCC’s reports, but in many ways the only difference is in the vividness of the language. “The progressive acidification of oceans due to increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide is expected to have negative impacts on marine shell-forming organisms (ie corals) and their dependent species,” said the IPCC report detailing the impacts of climate change – its careful language draining the drama from a warning that vast tracts of the ocean may turn so acidic that little life will be left in them.

It added: “At lower latitudes, especially seasonally dry and tropical regions, crop productivity is projected to decrease for even small local temperature increases (1-2C), which would increase risk of hunger.” What these measured tones imply, warns Lovelock, is that millions – perhaps hundreds of millions – of people living in equatorial lands will be forced from their homes, with most of them heading northwards. “The world will face mass shortages of food and water. That will lead to wars and the effective clearance of vast areas of land as the deserts spread,” he said.

EDIT

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article1751509.ece

[n2doc]

1. He may be right

Or not. But people need to understand that his predictions are at least as plausible as the IPCC ones, and more plausible than those who think that we will just stop GW "any day now". Marching, carbon credits and other gestures may make us feel good but real, hard nosed planning is what the World really needs. It is a shame the United Nations is so weak and divided, it is perhaps the one agency with a global perspective that could tackle this.

[GliderGuider]

2. What we need right now

is some hard-nosed giving up.

We can't stop it, the shit is inches away from the fan. What we need to be doing is preparing some survivable refuges to make sure some degree of civilization makes it through the coming bottleneck.

[brokensymmetry]

6. Agreed.

We're in population overshoot. We will see a mass die-off.
It's going to be nasty.

But no one wants to hear it. Maybe the cockroaches will
evolve into a better civilization.

[ramapo]

3. We'll find out if he's right or not

Unfortunately I agree with his basic premise. The damage is done and there are no signs there there is even a chance that the radical steps needed, to at best cushion the changes now in motion, will be taken anytime soon.

The next five to ten years will tell us if Mother Earth is as pissed off as I think she is.

[JohnF]

4. The first sentence you quote sums it up

Lovelock believes that the transformation is happening far too fast for humanity to tackle, especially in a world that remains committed to economic growth and whose 6.5 billion population is predicted to reach more than 9 billion by mid-century.

This is what I think and write about every day. Maybe Glider's right. But I sure hope there's reason for a little more hope than that. At any rate, people need to look long and hard at that quote above and start confronting the issues on which it touches.

[Systematic Chaos]

5. Welcome to DU, JohnF

Sorry to have to greet you in a thread this depressing, but then it's always good to know there are people who come here and read what is offered without having their heads planted firmly up their backsides....

[JohnF]

7. Thanks GG

Thanks for the welcome. :hi: