Study: Effects Of Climate Change 'Irreversible'

[babylonsister]

Long Droughts, Rising Seas Predicted Despite Future CO2 Curbs

By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 27, 2009; A04


Greenhouse gas levels currently expected by mid-century will produce devastating long-term droughts and a sea-level rise that will persist for 1,000 years regardless of how well the world curbs future emissions of carbon dioxide, an international team of scientists reported yesterday.

Top climate researchers from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Switzerland and France said their analysis shows that carbon dioxide will remain near peak levels in the atmosphere far longer than other greenhouse gases, which dissipate relatively quickly.

"I think you have to think about this stuff as more like nuclear waste than acid rain: The more we add, the worse off we'll be," NOAA senior scientist Susan Solomon told reporters in a conference call. "The more time that we take to make decisions about carbon dioxide, the more irreversible climate change we'll be locked into."

At the moment, carbon concentrations in the atmosphere stand at 385 parts per million. Many climate scientists and the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have set a goal of stabilizing atmospheric carbon at 450 ppm, but current projections put the world on track to hit 550 ppm by 2035, rising after that point by 4.5 percent a year.

The new study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, projects that if carbon dioxide concentrations peak at 600 ppm, several regions of the world -- including southwestern North America, the Mediterranean and southern Africa -- will face major droughts as bad or worse than the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. Global sea levels will rise by about three feet by the year 3000, a projection that does not factor in melting glaciers and polar ice sheets that would probably result in significant additional sea level rises.

more...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/26/AR2009012602037_pf.html

[XemaSab]

1. .

:popcorn:

[Kolesar]

2. Could launch sulfate compounds into the stratosphere to cause dimming

Could add iron compounds to the sea to enhance CO2 absorption.

[Nihil]

4. Why not go the whole hog?

> Could launch sulfate compounds into the stratosphere to cause dimming

> Could add iron compounds to the sea to enhance CO2 absorption.

Could dispose of radioactive substances (well, at least, move to other places).

Could solve the overpopulation problem (note: focusing on the higher consumption
countries rather than just the higher numbers of already-starving peasants).

Could rebalance the world economy.

Let's face it, if you're going to screw around with the planet like that,
you might as well do a proper job rather than a series of botches over time.

All you need is one quick but very effective nuclear war.

Easy!

[OKIsItJustMe]

3. Dup

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=115&topic_id=184147&mesg_id=184147