Environmental Issue 1: Climate Change

Greenhouse Gases Reached Dangerous Tipping Point a Full Ten Years Ahead of Expectations
The total "long-term" carbon dioxide equivalent of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached 455 parts per million back in 2005. (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report) It had not been expected to reach this level for a decade and is considered a tipping point.

"The amount of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere is already above the threshold that can potentially cause dangerous climate change. We are already at risk...It's not next year or next decade, it's now." (Tim Flannery, climate change expert) (1), (2).

Scientist Chris Field from the IPCC says the current trajectory of climate change is now much worse than the IPCC had originally projected in part due to China and India's increasing reliance on coal power.

The research shows carbon emissions have grown sharply since 2000, despite growing concerns about climate change. During the 1990s, carbon emissions grew by less than 1% per year. Since 2000, emissions have grown at a rate of 3.5% per year. No part of the world had a decline in emissions from 2000 to 2008.

Earlier this month, Field told the American Association for the Advancement of Science:

"We are basically looking now at a future climate beyond anything we've considered seriously in climate model situations." (1)

Report from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
A record number of floods, droughts and storms around the world in 2007 amounted to a climate change "mega disaster"..."We are seeing the effects of climate change. Any year can be a freak but the pattern looks pretty clear to be honest...this is here and now, this is with us already." (Under-Secretary General John Holmes) ... Two years ago only half the international disasters dealt with by OCHA had anything to do with the climate; this year all but one of the 14 emergency appeals is climate-related.... The OCHA appeals represent the tip of an iceberg since they are launched only with the agreement of the affected country. (3) (learn more at OCHA)

Unless we can reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million, we will cause huge and irreversible damage to the earth. (350.org)

"Greenhouse Gases Reached Dangerous Tipping Point a Full Ten Years Ahead of Expectations." Global Stewards. Web. 12 Jan. 2010. .