A sobering and stark report released earlier this week by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) gives new evidence that global emissions of greenhouse gasses have skyrocketed in recent years to the highest levels yet, despite some efforts around world to reduce global warming.?Rajendra Kumar Pachauri, Chair of the IPCC, said in a press conference:
??What comes out very clearly from this report is the fact that the high-speed mitigation train would need to leave the station soon, and all of global society would have to get on board.?
?Pacharui has served as the Chair of the IPCC since 2002 and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 during his tenure.
In the newly released report, the data demonstrates that emissions of greenhouse gasses grew at a steeper rate between the decade of the years of 2000 and 2010 than in each of the prior three decades, that is, between 1990 and 2000, 1980 and 1990, and 1970 and 1980.
Pachauri said that the rate over the past ten years has roughly been a gigaton a year of greenhouse gasses in CO2 equivalent terms.
Forty-seven percent came from the energy supply industry, 30% from industry generally, and 11 percent from transport, said Pachauri. He added that these are the sectors where mitigation will mainly need to be addressed to limit average global temperature increases.
However, the report, entitled ?Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change,? it is still possible to change the course of irrevocable damage, but greater action must take place soon and be deep and widespread.
Specifically, the report cites that a variety of technological measures as well as changes in behavior is needed in order to prevent an increase in the global average temperate of two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. An even greater chance of preventing disaster would be possible if collaborative governmental, institutional, and technological change were implemented soon.
In a press conference previewing the release of the report, Rajendra K. Pachauri, Chairman of the IPCC, called for an ?unprecedented level of international cooperation? to mitigate climate change.
This report, along with a ?Synthesis Report? due in October, comprises the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report on Climate change by Working Group III. The Working Group III is headed by three Co-Chairs: Ottmar Edenhofer from Germany, Ram?n Pichs-Madruga from Cuba, and Youba Sokona from Mali.?Edenhofer said:
??Climate policies in line with the two degrees Celsius goal need to aim for substantial emission reductions. There is a clear message from science: To avoid dangerous interference with the climate system, we need to move away from business as usual.?
?In order to prevent increasing the global mean temperature increase to two degrees Celsius (roughly 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), global greenhouse gas emissions must be lowered by 40 to 70 percent of what was produced in 2010 by mid-century, or around 2050. Furthermore, greenhouse gases need to be reduced to near-zero by the end of the century, or approximately 2099.
About 1,200 scenarios from scientific literature were analyzed for the newly released report.
A few degrees change may not sound, at first, like much to worry about. However, it has been predicted that increases in average global temperature of only a couple degrees would have catastrophic effects throughout the world. Costal cities could disappear, ecosystems could change for the worse, collapses in farming and water supplies could ensue, drought and famine could increase, and even economic and political upheaval could become more probable.
In February, Secretary of State John Kerry called Climate Change ?World’s Most Fearsome Weapon of Mass Destruction.? He added that ?the science of climate change is leaping out at us like a scene from a 3-D movie. It’s warning us; It’s compelling us to act.?
Kerry continued to argue in his speech in Jakarta, Indonesia:
??When 97 percent of scientists agree on anything, we need to listen, and we need to respond. Well, 97 percent of climate scientists have confirmed that climate change is happening and that human activity is responsible. These scientists agree on the causes of these changes and they agree on the potential effects. They agree that the emission of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide contributes heavily to climate change. They agree that the energy sources that we’ve relied on for decades to fuel our cars and to heat our homes or to air condition our homes, to ? all the things that provide us electricity like oil and coal ? that these are largely responsible for sending those greenhouse gases up into the atmosphere?And they agree that, if we continue to go down the same path that we are going down today, the world as we know it will change ? and it will change dramatically for the worse.?
?Current CNN host and former Republican presidential candidate, Newt Gingrich, instead of focusing on the evidence presented by Kerry, had a somewhat emotional response, using ad hominem (personal) attacks.
Gingrich stated that Kerry was ?out of touch with reality? and ?making policy in a fantasy world.?
He further called for the American public to ?demand Kerrey’s resignation.? (Gingrich misspelled the Secretary of State’s name in the tweet, but later apologized for it.)
Edited/Published by: SB
