Former IPCC Scientist - "Whatever We Do Things Will Get Worse From Here"

[hatrack]

LONDON — The United States -- the world's richest and most polluting nation -- has a moral duty to take the lead in tackling catastrophic global warming instead of denying it is happening, a leading scientist said on Monday. Addressing a meeting of international climate scientists and policymakers, John Houghton, a former senior member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said urgent action was imperative.

"If only the U.S. administration could flip from denial to acceptance it could save the world," he said. "If the Americans continue to do nothing then we have a big problem -- therefore they must do something." U.S. president George W. Bush's administration has refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on cutting climate-warming carbon gases from burning fossil fuels, calling it economic suicide. Harlan Watson, Bush's top climate negotiator, ruled out joining the treaty but did not exclude the possibility that a future U.S. President might take a different view.

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Luiz Alberto Figueirdo Machado, head of the environment section of Brazil's foreign ministry, said the developed world had had a free ride for 150 years and it was payback time. "The polluter must pay," he told the meeting at think-tank the Royal Institute for International Affairs. "It is not the wish of the developing countries to repeat the mistakes of the developed countries over the past 150 years.

Scientists predict average global temperatures will rise by at least two degrees Celsius this century, bringing floods, droughts and rising sea levels from melting polar ice caps. "Whatever we do things will get worse from here, so we must act urgently," Houghton said. Houghton said developed nations had to take a lead in combating warming because if they did not the developing world -- particularly countries like China -- would take no action.

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http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=10753

[RethugAssKicker]

1. Bush will deploy a missile system that will

destroy light waves coming from the sun... thereby eliminating the affects of Global Warming !

From a toothless Rethug!

[paparush]

2. CO2's freedom is on the march...

[ramapo]

3. Why don't the developing countries lead?

I've watched as developing countries, China and India especially, copy or exceed the mistakes made by the United States. At least we can plead that the past decisions which have gotten us into this mess were based on ignorance of the ramifications.

China, as well as the rest of the developing world, just want to get the biggest and quickest growth possible. Environmental concerns are definitely not foremost on their lists. Their use of coal, destruction of resources, uncontrolled pollution, rapid growth of autos, all show that developing countries are repeating our mistakes and doing it at a far greater speed.

I really don't think our society is capable of urgent action at this point. No doubt it'll be demanded once something really unpleasant happens.

[NNadir]

4. We can all look at the other guy.

Personally I think the excuse China and India are as bad as we are doesn't wash.

I've been to India. I've seen what people endure there. A lot of this question comes down to our Hummer vs their access to clean drinking water, our fois gras vs. their daily bread.

These people are not in a position to do much. Worse, their poverty fosters ignorance and fear. Many people in the third world have children in a probabilistic way, assuming that 4 out of their 5 children will die before reaching adulthood. They're hoping the survivor will support them when their old. Of course, it's not always that simple, but often it is.

The only numbers that make sense are per capita numbers. In this emergency we will not be Chinese; we will not be Indias; we will not be Kenyans. We will all be human beings. We are all in this together.

[LiberalPartisan]

5. Reversing global warming would delay the rapture...

And we can't have that! Don't you know - Jesus needs us to destroy the Earth before he returns.
He also wants you to buy the biggest, least fuel efficient SUV you can find 'cause He really wants to get the whole rapture thing moving!

{/sarcasm}