[MCN] Climate: These still look a lot like state of the politics to me

[Lance Olsen]

“…. Even when emissions are stabilized at 90% below present levels at 2050, this 2.0C threshold is eventually broken.”

Andrew J. Weaver et al. Long term climate implications of 2050 emission reduction targets. GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, 2007

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“…. even  the most aggressive CO2 mitigation steps as envisioned now can only limit further additions to the committed warming, but not reduce the already committed GHGs warming of 2.4°C.”

 On avoiding dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system: Formidable challenges ahead


V. Ramanathan* and Y. Feng. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences September 23, 2008

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“In their excellent Perspectives article in this issue, Ramanathan and  Feng (R&F) sound a harsh wake-up  call for those concerned about anthropogenic climate change: the authors  maintain that the greenhouse gas (GHG)  emissions of the past have already loaded  the Earth System sufficiently to bring  about disastrous global warming. In other words, the ultimate goal of climate protection policy, as stipulated by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), appears to be a delusion.

 “Our planet is already committed to anthropogenic warming in the range of  1.4 – 4.3°C, where 2.4°C is the most likely  amount.


 “Venturing into the 2 realm is risky, … because large-scale nonlinear responses of the planetary machinery are likely to be triggered then. These effects might even conspire to bring about — in the worst of all possible climate change science fictions —something like a runaway greenhouse effect.”


 “… the race between climate dynamics and  climate policy will be a close one …. requires an industrial revolution for sustainability starting now.”

Global warming: Stop worrying, start panicking?

Hans Joachim Schellnhuber. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences September 23, 2008

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“The 2007 Bali conference heard repeated calls for reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions of 50 per cent by 2050 to avoid exceeding the 2C threshold. …. it is increasingly unlikely any global agreement will deliver the radical reversal in emission trends required for stabilization at 450 ppmv carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). Similarly, the current framing of climate change cannot be reconciled with the rates of mitigation necessary to stabilize at 550 ppmv CO2e and even an optimistic interpretation suggests stabilization much below 650 ppmv CO2e is improbable.”

Reframing the climate change challenge in light of post-2000 emission trends

Kevin Anderson and Alice Bows.  Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences (2011)

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“Undoing the Clean Power Plan could be just the beginning   …   Also in the crosshairs are many other environmental statutes passed in the 1970s, such as the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the Safe Drinking Water Act.”

“Preservation of these statutes must not get lost in the potential clamor over the Clean Power Plan. They are the foundation of environmental policy and were the response to dangerous environmental degradation. With hostility toward these regulations at the federal level, vigilant focus on these laws is required at the state and local level as well as by the broader public.”

Rood, R. B. (2016), Take the long view on environmental issues in the age of Trump
Eos, 97,doi:10.1029/2016EO063609. Published on 01 December 2016.
https://eos.org/opinions/take-the-long-view-on-environmental-issues-in-the-age-of-trump

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