Mitigation of climate change

The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) deals with mitigation of climate change. In a nutshell, it calls for immediate action to break our addiction to carbon-based fossil fuels. If we do not wean ourselves off of these sources of energy and switch as rapidly as possible to renewable sources of energy the world’s average ambient temperature will soon surpass the predicted 2^o C rise and rapidly reach a very dangerous 4^o C increase by the end of the 21^st century. Such a rapid increase in global average temperatures would disrupt many of the earth’s essential life support systems. Rapid warming of the world’s oceans and seas is accompanied by acidification as more carbonic acid is created from dissolved CO₂; the pH is declining to levels that are lethal to corals and consequently vitally important marine ecosystems are endangered. Many coral reefs are already dead or dying, along with phytoplankton and zooplankton at the base of marine food chains. Terrestrial ecosystems and agriculture in the world’s great grain growing regions are threatened by rapidly increasing volatility and unpredictability of seasons, with greatly increased frequency of violent climatic extremes of hot and cold weather, severe storms, floods and droughts. This is a real and present danger to food security. Melting and thawing of glaciers in polar and alpine regions and thermal expansion of seawater as it warms will raise sea levels by at least a meter by the end of the 21^st century; accompanying storm surges will make life precarious for all who live close to present sea level. At least half a billion people, perhaps more, will become climate refugees, will have to move, severely straining all resources in the places to which they move.

These are not predictions of what to expect at some vague future time; these events are happening now. They will continue, and get much worse, unless we break our addiction to carbon-based fossil fuels, coal and oil. If we want essential life-supporting ecosystems to recover and sustain the human population, we must switch to renewable, sustainable energy sources, solar, wind, tidal, geothermal. The oil and coal industries are resisting fiercely, paying advertisers and pseudo-scientists to obfuscate the evidence, spreading lies and buying governments that will do their bidding, allow them huge tax benefits, even pay them obscenely large subsidies as they continue to destroy the earth, our only home.

For details, see http://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg3/

(Fifth Assessment Report; Working Group III: Mitigation of Climate Change)

All thoughtful people should read the Summary for Policy-makers and those who are scientifically trained should read the reports.