Current government emissions limit pledges put world on dangerous warming path. A new study from German researchers at organizations such as the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research has estimated global temperature increases based on the pledges of international governments to reduce emissions.
Despite calls by small island nations for a limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius global temperature rise and even the Copenhagen Accord’s establishment of 2 degrees maximum, the study’s findings point to a devastating 3 degree increase in temperature.
Potsdam Institute’s Bill Hare stated, “The current pledges and loopholes give us a virtual certainty of exceeding 1.5 degrees, with global warming very likely exceeding 2 degrees and a more than 50-percent chance of exceeding 3 degrees by 2100.”
According to environmental journalist Mark Lynas, author of the book, “Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet,” a 3-degree temperature rise scenario includes super-hurricanes destroying large cities, vast areas of Africa and Australia rendered uninhabitable due to drought, massive carbon release from vegetation and soil and the loss of the entire Amazon rainforest in uncontrollable firestorms.
According to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Earth has already heated up by 0.8 degrees Celsius since the start of industrialization, with accompanying sea level rise and accelerated loss of ice and permafrost.
Scientists forecast that even a 1 to 2-degree warming would cause calamities such as the submersion of low-lying coastlines, heatstroke fatalities across Europe, and the extinction of at least a third of all species.
We appreciate the contributions of Dr. Hare and Potsdam Institute colleagues, Mr. Lynas and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change scientists in helping us see the reality of the life-threatening perils we face, as we pray your message awakens us to the importance of acting faster and with ever more focus to preserve lives on our planet.
Supreme Master Ching Hai has long urged world leaders toward the most necessary actions to avert planetary disasters, as in an October 2009 speech addressing government magistrates and judges in Mexico.
Supreme Master Ching Hai: At this most urgent time for the planet, I beseech your honorable graces to please help your country and our world spare lives from the impending global warming calamity. If you don’t, there will be too massive a catastrophe, too immense a suffering upon people, families, the children, that our conscience might never be able to bear it.
We eliminate most of the human-made greenhouse gases by simply adopting the animal-free vegan organic lifestyle. This also leads to considerable financial savings for world governments.
We cannot wait for the sustainable energy and green technology to be available and used by everyone. It would be too late. We must become vegan to save our planet.
http://www.france24.com/en/20100610-world-still-heading-3-degree-celcius-warming-studyhttp://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1878270/world_still_on_a_warming_trend/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/article1480669.ecehttp://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/apr/23/scienceandnature.climatechangeExtra NewsAfter a recent ascent of the Himalayan summit of Mt. Everest, Omani mountain climber Khalid Sulaiman Al Siyabi reports observing multiple avalanches daily as well as rapid ice melt throughout the region as he warns that global warming must be taken seriously.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?col=§ion=middleeast&xfile=data/middleeast/2010/June/middleeast_June390.xmlThe US Geological Survey creates a map of cover vegetation from consolidated ground and satellite surveys to better understand biodiversity health and climate change effects, with a goal of preserving flora and fauna.
http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=2509 http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/06/united-states-vegetation-map/#ixzz0qwbA4wAwIn the northeastern USA, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission calls for a five-year ban on lobster fishing after finding that populations in some areas have dropped by 40% in less than a decade.
http://www.clickorlando.com/news/23846451/detail.html http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2010/06/11/Lobster-ban-sought-for-south-New-England/UPI-62091276281343/ http://www.mvgazette.com/article.php?25772 http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2010/06/11/Lobster-ban-sought-for-south-New-England/UPI-62091276281343/Signing a new eco-protection agreement with Norway, Indonesia pledges to safeguard 72.5 million hectares of forest and peat land from business development.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/06/15/govt-keep-72-million-hectares-forest-peat-%E2%80%9Cuntouched%E2%80%9D.html