The unrestricted use of fossil fuels should be phased out by 2100, if the world is to avoid dangerous climate change, a UN-backed expert panel says.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says in a stark report that most of the world's electricity can - and must - be produced from low-carbon sources by 2050.
If not, the world faces "severe, pervasive and irreversible" damage.
The UN said inaction would cost "much more" than taking the necessary action.
"Science has spoken," Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said. "There is no ambiguity in their message. Leaders must act. Time is not on our side.
I can see the conservative response now: "Oh, well that gives us a free pass for at least three more decades."
I feel that the only way that we as Americans will have any hope of meeting this timetable is to never elect another Republican again. Of course that seems perfectly reasonable to me.
Why is it that democrats can take things out of context, construe their own conclusions by pretending to be inside someone's head, yet a republican can't take a statement that MANY took offense to and honor the group of people being subjugated?
ReplyDeleteAre you talking about the existence of man-made climate change? You must be, because that's what this post is about. Don't tell me you're one of those people who are offended by science? Do you think these statements about eliminating our dependence are offensive to certain people?
DeleteOh, no. I'm sure you're talking some tripe about something Sarah Palin says people got offended by. You have nothing intelligent to say about science or climate change.
I guess that's what happens when you can't make it on Broadway and you're forced to move back in with your disappointed parents who wonder why you're spending so much time on the computer instead of getting a job or dating. You make your parents proud by holding up the Palins as your ideal family.
Specifics, dear? Or is this intended to be a generic one size fits all troll comment.
DeleteOnce again, you don't seem to have any idea how to work the internet machine.
Go back and make your idiotic comment on the relevant post. It will still be stupid and whiny, but at least it will be on the correct post.
Huh?
DeleteCan someone translate that word salad for me?
The only thing that terrifies me more than climate change is the crazy idiot non-believers finally grasping the concept and then freaking out. Rather than everyone working together to make a better life on a changing planet,
ReplyDeleteI fear these mouth breathers like those that "roll coal" just to piss off the rest of us who care about the environment will turn us into a Mad Max world. Can't we just keep them in the dark till we get things cleaned up? Or maybe a FEMA camp for Idiots? heh
Mildred
They say we have until 2150? Well, from what I have read elsewhere, we already have reached the Point Of No Return. Water levels of our oceans are rising much, much faster than anyone had anticipated, and the ice sheets in the Arctic are melting so fast, the heads of some scientists are spinning.
ReplyDeleteThe Club Of Rome had warned in the 1970s about this, and warned we needed to take immediate actions THEN, and not now. This report gives the mouth breathers just another reason to say that we don't need to do anything now, because we have another generation to go, and THAT generation then can do what is needed.
Except by then it will be too late.
2050.
DeleteAnd yes, we passed the point of no return some time ago.
Nice try, Gryphen, but high ranking conservatarians have confirmed beyond any doubt - thru rigorous analysis of Scripture, certified Ouiji(tm) boards, Magic 8 Balls, highly accurate astro-illlogical charts, tea party focus groups and award-winning Coney Island astrologers - "climate change is the hugesest hoax perpetrated upon humanity since the so-called round-earth scamsters first claimed the planet is spherical".
ReplyDeleteNo, there is absolutely no such thing as climate change!
Unless there is.
And if there is, it was Jeebus' plan all along.
Anyway, GOPOOPER campaign strategists already have attack ads in the can for the 2060 election blaming "Presidents Obama/Clinton/Obama/Clinton/Obama & Clinton's inaction on climate change" for any deleterious affects of rising sea levels, massive droughts, widespread famine, routine superstorms and rampant invasive species migration.
2100 will be way too late.
ReplyDeleteAnd we're not talking about saving the planet. The planet will survive. Even some insects, fish and animals will survive.
People? Not so much.
We can't afford to wait until 2100. We need to start reducing towards eliminating as much as we can starting 5 years ago.
I bought my first Prius in 2005. Also the year I put solar PV panels on my roof. I've been conserving water even longer. I compost and cook from scratch to eliminate as much packaging and trash as possible. I have a recycling washer and a clothes line for drying when weather permits, which is much of the year.
I'll be retiring soon and my next car will be an EV. The one after that will be public transportation, which locally is either natural gas (bus) or electric (trolley). I also have a bike and my feet.
My raised bed garden will be going in (with drip irrigation on timers) right after I retire since I still haven't managed to find enough time to get it done while working full time. My worms will provide me with compost for soil amending and worm tea for fertilizer.
I'm bartering my jams for goat's milk for cheese making.
I am so grateful I am the child of parents that lived through the Great Depression.