Climate-Change - Why it's even worse than we feared.

Dear fellow Earth citizens:

This just in from NHNE News: Climate-Change Calculus - Why it's even worse than we feared - (Excerpt) Jim Watson of the University of Sussex wrote that "a new breed of climate skeptic is becoming more common": someone who doubts not the science but the policy response. Given the pathetic (non)action on global warming at the G8 summit, and the fact that the energy/climate bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives is so full of holes and escape hatches that it has barely a prayer of averting dangerous climate change, skepticism that the world will get its act together seems appropriate. For instance, the G8, led by Europe, has vowed to take steps to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius by reducing CO2 emissions. We're now at 0.8 degree. But the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere is already enough to raise the mercury 2 degrees (Celsius, that is). The only reason it hasn't is that the atmosphere is full of crap (dust and aerosols that contribute to asthma, emphysema, and other diseases) that acts as a global coolant. As that pollution is reduced for health reasons, we're going to blast right through 2 degrees, which is enough to ex-acerbate droughts and storms, wreak havoc on agriculture, and produce a planet warmer than it's been in millions of years. The 2-degree promise is a mirage.

The test of whether the nations of the world care enough to act will come in December, when 192 countries meet in Copenhagen to hammer out a climate treaty. Carlson vows that IPY will finish its Arctic assessment in time for the meeting, and one conclusion is already clear. "A consensus has developed during IPY that the Greenland ice sheet will disappear," he says.

Since the Internet is chockfull with tips and ideas about how to lower one's eco and carbon footprint I won't add any - it seems a waste of time, anyway. More to the point, I only know one (1) person who's sincerely lowering his impact on our still beautiful planet, alerting others about the dangers ahead and who is working hard on getting more folks on board! Go figure...

Frustrated, worried and disgusted (by people's inaction and dumb excuses, even the more aware, educated, smart and financially better-off folks and... even those with kids),

John

Phytoplankton Threatened by Climate Change...
In addition to forming the base of the food chain, phytoplankton also...
absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and emit large quantities of oxygen.
Lower levels of plankton means more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and faster global warming...
leading to still lower plankton populations and successively more warming.
Rutgers University