An agenda for the Copenhagen climate talks
Keith Parkins | 24.09.2009 14:07 | COP15 Climate Summit 2009 | Climate Chaos | Ecology | Energy Crisis | World
We have had enough of hot air, vague promises of action in the distant future, we need concrete proposals, action now.
Copenhagen has to agree:
- cut carbon emissions by at least 10% by 2010
http://www.1010uk.org
- reduce CO2 concentration in atmosphere to less than 350 ppm by 2015 http://www.350.org
- halt forest destruction
- restore old growth forests
- halt tar sands exploration
- halt open cast coal mining
- no new coal-fired power stations
- phase out existing coal-fired power stations
- no new oil fields
All we have seen in New York is world leaders emitting a lot of hot air, no concrete proposals on the table.
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/09/438547.html?c=on
According to Lord Stern in an address in China a couple of weeks ago, the situation is now more dire than the Stern Report indicated in 2006, and the ability of the planet to cope is less than was thought then, the effects of climate are also more rapid! http://bit.ly/L1RTd
In the UK, we have a target, set in law, of 80% cut by 2050. Not enough, and I see no evidence of even a token gesture to meet that target. We need to achieve at least 10% cut by 2010!
http://www.1010uk.org
Time is not on our side, not with methane release starting to kick in, which will greatly accelerate the process.
http://www.tcktcktck.org
Recent research suggests that the carbon we put into the atmosphere will be there for the next 1,000 years. Climate change we introduce now will be with us for the next 1,000 years!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/sep/01/global-warming-emissions-fossil-fuels
If the Arctic Ice Sheet is melting with a one degree centigrade rise, then our limit of two degrees is too high. Two degrees is already seen as an outdated figure, many island states will be wiped out if global temperatures rise by two degrees.
350 ppm is the maximum carbon in the form of CO2 we can tolerate in the atmosphere, and even that may be too high. At 390 ppm of CO2, we have already overshot this upper limit and it is rising by 2 ppm per year. And in case you are wondering where this figure has come from, did I pluck it out of a hat, it has come from Nasa.
http://www.350.org
Until the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, ie for most of mankind's existence apart from the last two hundred years, the atmospheric concentration of CO2 was 275 ppm.
If we bring atmospheric concentration back down to 350 ppm CO2 there is a hope global carbon sinks will do the rest, but that is assuming we have not already destroyed them. We are clear-felling rainforests, 390 ppm CO2 is raising the acidity of the oceans which is causing coral reefs to dissolve and the shells of shellfish to dissolve.
Temperatures are rising fastest at the poles. The Arctic Ice Sheet is vanishing. Were the Greenland Ice Sheet to melt, sea levels would rise by 17 metres. Many coastal cities, including London, Bangladesh, South Pacific Islands, would not survive these sea levels.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/sep/01/sermilik-fjord-greenland-global-warming
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/video/2009/aug/06/south-cascade-alarming-glacial-melting
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/aug/21/climate-change-nile-flooding-farming
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2009/apr/28/glaciers-melting-climate-change
The Arctic is expected to be ice free in the summertime sometime between 2011 and 2015, that is 80 years ahead of what was predicted only a few years ago!
Do we sit back and do nothing or do we ensure those meeting at Copenhagen are aware of our demands? http://bit.ly/4j98je
If corrupt politicians will not act, the people will!
http://www.heureka.clara.net/gaia/dir-act.htm
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/09/437939.html
http://www.thegreatclimateswoop.org/
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/09/437651.html
This Saturday there will be mass action in Denmark to shut down a coal-fired power station.
http://shutitdown.dk
- cut carbon emissions by at least 10% by 2010
http://www.1010uk.org - reduce CO2 concentration in atmosphere to less than 350 ppm by 2015
http://www.350.org - halt forest destruction
- restore old growth forests
- halt tar sands exploration
- halt open cast coal mining
- no new coal-fired power stations
- phase out existing coal-fired power stations
- no new oil fields
All we have seen in New York is world leaders emitting a lot of hot air, no concrete proposals on the table.
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/09/438547.html?c=on According to Lord Stern in an address in China a couple of weeks ago, the situation is now more dire than the Stern Report indicated in 2006, and the ability of the planet to cope is less than was thought then, the effects of climate are also more rapid!
http://bit.ly/L1RTd In the UK, we have a target, set in law, of 80% cut by 2050. Not enough, and I see no evidence of even a token gesture to meet that target. We need to achieve at least 10% cut by 2010!
http://www.1010uk.org Time is not on our side, not with methane release starting to kick in, which will greatly accelerate the process.
http://www.tcktcktck.org Recent research suggests that the carbon we put into the atmosphere will be there for the next 1,000 years. Climate change we introduce now will be with us for the next 1,000 years!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/sep/01/global-warming-emissions-fossil-fuels If the Arctic Ice Sheet is melting with a one degree centigrade rise, then our limit of two degrees is too high. Two degrees is already seen as an outdated figure, many island states will be wiped out if global temperatures rise by two degrees.
350 ppm is the maximum carbon in the form of CO2 we can tolerate in the atmosphere, and even that may be too high. At 390 ppm of CO2, we have already overshot this upper limit and it is rising by 2 ppm per year. And in case you are wondering where this figure has come from, did I pluck it out of a hat, it has come from Nasa.
http://www.350.org Until the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, ie for most of mankind's existence apart from the last two hundred years, the atmospheric concentration of CO2 was 275 ppm.
If we bring atmospheric concentration back down to 350 ppm CO2 there is a hope global carbon sinks will do the rest, but that is assuming we have not already destroyed them. We are clear-felling rainforests, 390 ppm CO2 is raising the acidity of the oceans which is causing coral reefs to dissolve and the shells of shellfish to dissolve.
Temperatures are rising fastest at the poles. The Arctic Ice Sheet is vanishing. Were the Greenland Ice Sheet to melt, sea levels would rise by 17 metres. Many coastal cities, including London, Bangladesh, South Pacific Islands, would not survive these sea levels.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/sep/01/sermilik-fjord-greenland-global-warming http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/video/2009/aug/06/south-cascade-alarming-glacial-melting http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/aug/21/climate-change-nile-flooding-farming http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2009/apr/28/glaciers-melting-climate-change The Arctic is expected to be ice free in the summertime sometime between 2011 and 2015, that is 80 years ahead of what was predicted only a few years ago!
Do we sit back and do nothing or do we ensure those meeting at Copenhagen are aware of our demands?
http://bit.ly/4j98je If corrupt politicians will not act, the people will!
http://www.heureka.clara.net/gaia/dir-act.htm http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/09/437939.html http://www.thegreatclimateswoop.org/ http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/09/437651.html This Saturday there will be mass action in Denmark to shut down a coal-fired power station.
http://shutitdown.dk
Keith Parkins
Homepage:
http://www.heureka.clara.net/gaia/
