Global Warming May Kill Billions This Century

[linda]

I found this article online while going through global warming issues. As it is very interesting, I felt like sharing it with you all.
“If almost anyone other than James Lovelock issued such a warning about global warming, it would be labeled at best science fiction and at worst irresponsible and alarmist. But Lovelock has a formidable reputation as an environmental scientist and a stunning record of achievement, so when he says mankind has pushed the planet to the breaking point, it pays to listen.

Beyond the Point of No Return
Writing in The Independent and in his new book, “The Revenge of Gaia,” to be published next month, Lovelock says that current efforts to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and mitigate the greenhouse effect that leads to global warming—including the Kyoto Protocol and the alternative Sydney Summit —won't be enough to solve the problem. He says the only hope is for all nations to use their resources wisely to sustain civilization for as long as possible.

“We have given Gaia a fever and soon her condition will worsen to a state like a coma,” Lovelock writes. “She has been there before and recovered, but it took more than 100,000 years. We are responsible and will suffer the consequences.”

Lovelock predicts that by the end of the century the temperature will rise 8 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit) in temperate regions such as Europe and the U.S., and 5 degrees Celsius in the tropics.

“Much of the tropical land mass will become scrub and desert, and will no longer serve for regulation; this adds to the 40 per cent of the Earth's surface we have depleted to feed ourselves,” Lovelock explains.

If Lovelock is correct, the outlook is grim for the human race, and for the planet.

"Before this century is over, billions of us will die, and the few breeding pairs of people that survive will be in the Arctic where the climate remains tolerable," Lovelock writes.

Nuclear Energy May Be Key to Survival
According to Lovelock, there is still time to prevent such a disaster—although not much time—but he says the nations with the most power to halt the approaching devastation are also the ones doing the most to bring it about.

"Civilization is energy-intensive and we cannot turn it off without crashing, so we need the security of a powered descent,” Lovelock writes. “Sadly I cannot see the United States or the emerging economies of China and India cutting back in time, and they are the main source of emissions. The worst will happen and survivors will have to adapt to a hell of a climate.”

Lovelock is a leading thinker in environmental science whose holistic view of the planet sometimes puts him out of step with others in the environmental community. For example, Lovelock supports further development of nuclear energy as the only clean source of energy that can be developed in time to slow the effects of global warming and head off the disaster he believes is coming.

According to Lovelock, who views the Earth as a living organism, human civilization is not only a large part of the problem but also a "precious resource" for the planet.

“We should be the heart and mind of the Earth, not its malady,” he says. “Most of all, we should remember that we are a part of it, and it is indeed our home.”

[solarant]

Well, I know many folks do not agree with Lovelock, some owing to a genuine feeling that we should be more positive and many others owing to vested interests (read “Big Oil”!). But after having gone through tens of reports and tons of data, I am of the opinion that global warming might be more real than we think, and it could affect us sooner. All right, the climate deniers would say that there is a chance that the data are insufficient. But even a small chance that the global warming threat is for real means that we are in real trouble!
The question is, what should we do about this? The key culprit being named in the greenhouse gases context is CO2. A [URL="http://www.powerplantccs.com/ccs/abo/abo.html"]section from the PowerPlantCCS site[/URL] says, "Carbon dioxide is the most common greenhouse gas after water vapor. Burning fossil fuels, land clearing and other activities of modern industrial society have caused the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to climb from about 280 parts per million to 380 parts per million, causing warming and other climate changes.
From 1991 to 2000, CO2 accounted for 82% of total U.S. GHG emissions in terms of its global warming potential. About 96% of these carbon emissions resulted from the combustion of fossil fuels for energy"
True, other GHG gases such as methane (which is potentially 21 times as strong a GHG as CO2) have a role to play too. But owing to the sheer amount of its emission, CO2 is the guy to focus on.
If indeed CO2 is the main culprit in the global warming equation, it is imperative that we undertake practical measures to contain the amount of CO2 emitted. And I suggest we start with the huge power plants that each emits over a million T of CO2 into the atmosphere (the power plants alone contribute about 30% of all fossil fuel emissions, at 10 billion T per annum!).
The key point to note about these power plants is that each is a concentrated source of CO2 emissions. Thus, by attaching a few thousand such concentrated emitters, we might be able to gain significantly.
Is our Gaia going to be a happy Gaia if we only take care of the power plant CO2 emissions? Nopes, for sure. I guess we will have to do far more than just capturing the storing the CO2 from power plants, for long term viability of the planet, but this is a good start.

[Green Scene]

There are many, many people in the world who cannot accept scientifically derived facts. I foresee that this issue will go from mass denial to mass hysteria in my lifetime.

[MsEco]

With or without James Lovelock's Gaia Theory, I think that we ought to take a step in and do our share in protecting the environment. I don't understand why there are some people who refuse to see the possibility of nature being seriously damaged and the trouble that goes with it.

[Greenerly]

Well, I do believe in global warming but treating symptoms does not means actually curing the disease. First of all, there is no data that connects human produced CO2 with global warming. This has nothing to do with denial.

[EcoChic]

I find it difficult to believe the temperature will rise 5-8 degrees Celsius. I expect it to rise though and will be interested to read how he got such a high number. In any case, global warming is a huge environmental issue.