Mark Jaccard and James Hansen (Brussels).
I had the pleasure of meeting Professors James Hansen and Mark Jaccard today to discuss the latest climate science and politics. Hansen was honest in saying that the scientific community had failed in conveying the scale and urgency of the climate crisis to policy makers. Listening to the evidence that he presented I couldn’t help but to agree. The scientific storyline was so worrying that I felt as though I had been hit by a truck. Global average CO2 concentrates are currently at 395 parts per million (ppm). Recent increases in temperature have come against the backdrop of abnormally low solar radiation levels. This means that when solar radiation returns to its normal flows the effects on the Earth’s temperature will be even more pronounced than it is today. Already summer sea ice caps have have shrunk and shrunk adding greater levels of water vapor in the atmosphere which fuels the intensity of extreme weather events like Tornadoes and hurricanes.
(c) Louis Helbig www.beautifuldestruction.ca
Irrespective of regional mitigation efforts GHG concentrations are continuing to increase. Today’s perilous state of the climate result from the extraction and use of a small fraction of the total global reserves of fossil fuels. The message is simple. Fossil fuels have to remain in the ground.The unscrupulous Canadian government, which recently walked away from the Kyoto Protocol, is pressuring the US and Europe to drop their fight against climate change in order to allow import of most polluting forms of fossil fuels – Tar Sands. It is up to the current generation to stand up and ensure inter-generational justice. For European’s this translates into fighting against the import of Tar Sands into Europe. The upcoming European Commission proposal on the Fuel Quality Directive is the key battleground. It must correctly penalise Tar Sands and other highly polluting unconventional oils. In the fight against climate change there are no innocent by-standers.
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