Your forecast for the next century: Hotter, drier and hungrier, and the chance to turn down the thermostat is slipping away. by 1kiki

REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

Your forecast for the next century: Hotter, drier and hungrier, and the chance to turn down the thermostat is slipping away.

POSTED BY: 1KIKI
UPDATED: Sunday, April 27, 2014 17:21
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Thursday, April 24, 2014 1:29 AM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/30/world/un-climate-report/index.html

Little time left to turn down the world's heat, U.N. says

By Matt Smith and Brandon Miller, CNN
updated 11:27 AM EDT, Mon March 31, 2014

(CNN) -- Your forecast for the next century: Hotter, drier and hungrier, and the chance to turn down the thermostat is slipping away.

That's the latest conclusion from the United Nations, which urged governments to address the "increasingly clear" threats posed by a warming climate before some options are closed off for good. The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that taking steps to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions blamed for rising temperatures could buy more time to adjust to a warmer world.

Cutting emissions now "increases the time available for adaptation to a particular level of climate change," the report states. But it adds, "Delaying mitigation actions may reduce options for climate-resilient pathways in the future."

"In many cases, we are not prepared for the climate-related risks that we already face," Vicente Barros, the co-chaiman of the IPCC working group behind the document, said in a statement accompanying the report. "Investments in better preparation can pay dividends both for the present and for the future."
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Climate change is not debatable

The summary for policymakers was released Monday morning in Yokohama, Japan. It's the second part of the IPCC's benchmark assessment of climate change, a document released every six years with the input of nearly 1,000 scientists. Without checks on emissions, the impacts of climate change will be more severe, more likely, and possibly irreversible, it concludes.

Monday's report underscores "that we have committed to a certain amount of warming," said Kelly Levin, an energy and climate expert at the U.S.-based World Resources Institute.

"Over the next few decades, we are going to lock ourselves into a climate change commitment that is going to paint a very different world, depending on what we choose today," Levin said. "The choices we make today are going to affect the risks we face through the rest of the century."

As a result, "Adaptation is emerging as central area in climate change research," Levin said. But adaptation -- steps such as building sea walls, conserving water and designing cities for warmer climates -- has its limits, she said.

"The report suggests some options are going to be too resource-intensive or too expensive," she said.

An increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide and other emissions have driven average temperatures up by about 0.6 degrees Celsius (1 degree Fahrenheit) since 1950, the IPCC says. The first part of its report, released in September, concluded that even a best-case scenario would result in an increase in global average temperatures of 1.6 C; the worst-case scenario estimates a rise of 3.7 degrees Celsius (6.6 Fahrenheit).

The idea that carbon emissions are changing the Earth's climate is politically controversial, but generally accepted as fact by the overwhelming majority of scientists. And as emissions continue to rise, driving up CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere, the impacts will be more severe, more likely and possibly irreversible, Monday's report states.

The summary of the full document -- which is more than 1,000 pages -- will be the premiere guide for lawmakers. It breaks down the expected impacts by continent and by categories such as marine life, agriculture and flood risks. And by diving into the specifics of the report, policymakers will be able to see what risks their specific locations face, as well as what adaptation and mitigation techniques could prove fruitful.

"The real highlight is how many impacts there are, how widespread they are and how pervasive they are around the world," said Heather McGray, who studies adaptation at WRI.
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Expert: Sea levels make flooding worse

In most cases, climate change will exacerbate existing problems, such as the availability of fresh water in sub-Saharan Africa. The authors conclude that glaciers will continue to shrink "almost worldwide," affecting water supplies downstream.

Animals have begun shifting their habitats in response to a warming world, and key crops have been affected already, they wrote. Colder climates may see increases in crop yields from longer growing seasons and milder temperatures, but the negative effects are expected to outweigh the positive, the report states.

"In this report, the finding is the impacts of climate change are already widespread and consequential," McGray said.

The impacts won't be the same for everyone, and as usual, the world's poor are more likely to be hurt.

"Climate-related hazards affect poor people's lives directly through impacts on livelihoods, reductions in crop yields or destruction of homes and indirectly through, for example, increased food prices and food insecurity," the report states. Positive effects on the impoverished "are limited and often indirect."

For those people, the effects "will be catastrophic" unless emissions can be reduced, McGray said.

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Thursday, April 24, 2014 9:53 AM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!

Wetter than average winter / spring here in the SE.

Lakes are full, and then some.

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Thursday, April 24, 2014 10:11 PM

CHRISISALL

Prices on food staples are going up as we type.
Luckily, I don't eat dead cows or drink milk, but I do like lettuce.
So, we're humped.
We asked for (and are actively asking for) it.

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Thursday, April 24, 2014 11:13 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

Yes, b/c - according to you - your back yard is the GLOBE.

What a dork.

Originally posted by AURaptor:
Wetter than average winter / spring here in the SE.

Lakes are full, and then some.

OONJERAH - We are too dumb to live and smart enough to wipe ourselves out.

"You, who live in any kind of comfort or convenience, do not know how these people can survive these things, do you? They will endure because there is no immediate escape from endurance. Some will die, the rest must live."

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Friday, April 25, 2014 8:46 AM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!

There's the REAL world, in which I live, and then there's the world of computer models and trying to figure out climate in the next century, when trying to get a handle on next year's weather, or even next week's, is hard enough to do.

Name call reply, blah blah blah.

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Friday, April 25, 2014 6:29 PM

CHRISISALL

Quote:
Originally posted by 1kiki:
Yes, b/c - according to you - your back yard is the GLOBE.

This is Rick's fun. Baiting us. We keep falling for it because we like to pound on an idiot, but like that killer in Dirty Harry, he LIKES it!

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Friday, April 25, 2014 9:58 PM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!

Dude, I AM Dirty Harry.

Punk.

Fathom the hypocrisy of a government that requires every citizen to prove they are insured... but not everyone must prove they are a citizen

I'm just a red pill guy in a room full of blue pill addicts.

" AU, that was great, LOL!! " - Chrisisall

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Friday, April 25, 2014 10:40 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

OONJERAH - We are too dumb to live and smart enough to wipe ourselves out.

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Friday, April 25, 2014 11:28 PM

CHRISISALL

Quote:
Originally posted by AURaptor:
Dude, I AM Dirty Harry.

"Fucking wimp." -Ajax

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Saturday, April 26, 2014 7:52 PM

CHRISISALL

Quote:
Originally posted by 1kiki:
Little time left to turn down the world's heat, U.N. says

Eff it. We'll be long gone. Let our kids deal with the Road Warrior existence.

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Saturday, April 26, 2014 8:13 PM

JONGSSTRAW

Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:

Eff it. We'll be long gone. Let our kids deal with the Road Warrior existence.

It won't be so bad. In fact, for the lucky guy who pals around with a telepathic dog that can sniff out Susanne Bentons, it'll be downright shiny.

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Sunday, April 27, 2014 12:40 PM

CHRISISALL

Quote:
Originally posted by Jongsstraw:
for the lucky guy who pals around with a telepathic dog that can sniff out Susanne Bentons, it'll be downright shiny.

You are banned to Topeka.

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Sunday, April 27, 2014 2:30 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

Jongs

I just find it very curious that you can't seem to reference anything from the real world in these real world events discussions.

Originally posted by Jongsstraw:
It won't be so bad. In fact, for the lucky guy who pals around with a telepathic dog that can sniff out Susanne Bentons, it'll be downright shiny.

OONJERAH - We are too dumb to live and smart enough to wipe ourselves out.

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Sunday, April 27, 2014 4:10 PM

JONGSSTRAW

Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
Quote:
Originally posted by Jongsstraw:
for the lucky guy who pals around with a telepathic dog that can sniff out Susanne Bentons, it'll be downright shiny.

You are banned to Topeka.

Well she was a tasty dish!

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Sunday, April 27, 2014 5:21 PM

OONJERAH

Quote:
Originally posted by Jongsstraw:
Well she was a tasty dish!

In more ways than one.

If the dog was really telepathic or smart, he'd find
someone cooler to hang with than Don Johnson.

... oooOO}{OOooo ...

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