James Hansen Speaks on Climate Change

The bad news, discovered only two or three years ago, is that CO2 levels, which were around 280 parts per million (ppm) in the pre-industrial age, rose to 359, and recently peaked at 389 ppm. So we are already in the danger zone. Tb reverse this trend, we will need to adopt stringent means of curbin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPeace magazine Vol. 26; no. 4; p. 6
Main Author Guin, Subir
Format Magazine Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Peace Magazine 01.10.2010
Subjects
Climate change
Greenhouse effect
Hansen, James E
Physicists
Public speaking
Toronto Ontario Canada
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Summary:The bad news, discovered only two or three years ago, is that CO2 levels, which were around 280 parts per million (ppm) in the pre-industrial age, rose to 359, and recently peaked at 389 ppm. So we are already in the danger zone. Tb reverse this trend, we will need to adopt stringent means of curbing our use of coal, oil and natural gas. The reason all three fossil fuels are cheap is because they are subsidized. [James Hansen] mentioned the extraction of oil from tar sands as another backward step. The warming trend in global atmospheric temperatures also puts species under stress as climate zones shift, causing changes in agricultural production and species migration. Currently CO2 levels are growing at 2 ppm per year - this is 10,000 times more powerful than the natural variations of climatic conditions and is attributable solely to human/industrial activity. This demolishes the argument that human beings are not responsible for global warming and do not contribute significantly to the rising levels of CO2 and other greenhouse gases,
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ISSN:0826-9521