[Dialogue] Global Warming 'Is Three Times Faster Than Worst Predictions'

[Harry Wainwright]

Published on Sunday, June 3, 2007 by the Independent/UK
<http://environment.independent.co.uk/climate_change/article2609305.ece>  

Global Warming 'Is Three Times Faster Than Worst Predictions'

by Geoffrey Lean

Global warming is accelerating three times more quickly than feared, a
series of startling, authoritative studies has revealed. They have found
that emissions of carbon dioxide have been rising at thrice the rate in the
1990s. The Arctic ice cap is melting three times as fast - and the seas are
rising twice as rapidly - as had been predicted.

News of the studies - which are bound to lead to calls for even tougher
anti-pollution measures than have yet been contemplated - comes as the
leaders of the world's most powerful nations prepare for the most crucial
meeting yet on tackling climate change.

The issue will be top of the agenda of the G8 summit which opens in the
German Baltic resort of Heiligendamm on Wednesday, placing unprecedented
pressure on President George Bush finally to agree to international
measures.

Tony Blair flies to Berlin today to prepare for the summit with its host,
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor. They will discuss how to tackle
President Bush, who last week called for action to deal with climate change,
which his critics suggested was instead a way of delaying international
agreements.

Yesterday, there were violent clashes in the city harbour of Rostock between
police and demonstrators, during a largely peaceful march of tens of
thousands of people protesting against the summit.

The study <http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/0700609104v1> ,
published by the US National Academy of Sciences, shows that carbon dioxide
emissions have been increasing by about 3 per cent a year during this
decade, compared with 1.1 per cent a year in the 1990s.

The significance is that this is much faster than even the highest scenario
outlined in this year's massive reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) - and suggests that their dire forecasts of
devastating harvests, dwindling water supplies, melting ice and loss of
species are likely to be understating the threat facing the world.

The study found that nearly three-quarters of the growth in emissions came
from developing countries, with a particularly rapid rise in China. The
country, however, will resist being blamed for the problem, pointing out
that its people on average still contribute only about a sixth of the carbon
dioxide emitted by each American. And, the study shows, developed countries,
with less than a sixth of the world's people, still contribute more than
two-thirds of total emissions of the greenhouse gas.

On the ground, a <http://nsidc.org/news/press/20070430_StroeveGRL.html>
study by the University of California's National Snow and Ice Data Center
shows that Arctic ice has declined by 7.8 per cent a decade over the past 50
years, compared with an average estimate by IPCC computer models of 2.5 per
cent.

In yesterday's clashes, masked protesters hurled flagpoles, stones and
bottles and attacked with sticks forcing police to retreat. The police said
they were suffering "massive assaults" and that the situation was "very
chaotic". They put the size of the demonstration at 25,000; organizers said
it was 80,000.

C 2007 Independent News and Media Limited

Article printed from www.CommonDreams.org 

URL to article: http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/06/03/1635/

 

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