World has 10-year window to act on climate -expert

[cal04]

A leading U.S. climate researcher said on Wednesday the world has a 10-year window of opportunity to take decisive action on global warming and avert a weather catastrophe.

NASA scientist James Hansen, widely considered the doyen of American climate researchers, said governments must adopt an alternative scenario to keep carbon dioxide emission growth in check and limit the increase in global temperatures to 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit).

"I think we have a very brief window of opportunity to deal with climate change ... no longer than a decade, at the most," Hansen said at the Climate Change Research Conference in California's state capital.

If the world continues with a "business as usual" scenario, Hansen said temperatures will rise by 2 to 3 degrees Celsius (3.6 to 7.2 degrees F) and "we will be producing a different planet".


http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=1357512006

[longship]

1. Ten years, eh? No worries for ChimpCo, then.

ChimpCo: What!? Me Worry? Leave it (and Iraq) for the next President to handle. Plenty of time.

[phantom power]

2. "at the most" is the operative phrase here.

30 years ago, we might have had 10 years. Last I heard, the "2C" scenario was the baseline reality -- the best that we can hope for even if we accomplished a magical 100% GHG-neutral civilization tomorrow.

[skids]

3. Oh well. Too late then. n/t

[Dead_Parrot]

4. I think we were 'too late'...

...when the permafrost started melting. However, we still get to choose whether we end up cooking with a CCSR scenario, or getting away with the NCAR predictions. I wouldn't trade that Prius in just yet... :)

[Nihil]

5. 10-year window with a 30-second attention span.

If only there was a way to guarantee that the first people to die
would be the wilfully stupid ...

Sadly, it's more likely to be the vulnerable, the weak, the elderly,
the children and the poor (not to mention "differently coloured") of
the planet who will suffer & die before any real pain hits the
couch-potatoes, war pigs and greed-filled gamblers.