Dr. James Hansen, respected climatologist and Director of the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, spoke of the urgency of addressing climate
change. Regarding the current state of atmospheric greenhouse gases, he noted, “We have
already passed into the dangerous zone.” Dr. Hansen went on to say that if such gas emissions
are not reduced immediately, “We would be sending the planet toward an ice free state. We
would … be creating a very different planet, and chaos for our children.”
"We have reached a point where we have a real emergency." - James Hansen
"We are so, so close to the red line, that perhaps we may wake up tomorrow and find that there
is nothing to save after all." - Maneka Gandhi
"We have a climate crisis that is a planetary emergency." - Al Gore
QUICK COOLING OF EARTH
(carbon dioxide which can remain in the air for more than a century, methane
cycles
out of the atmosphere in eight to twelve years)
Carbon will take 100 to 1000 years to dissipate, and will keep warming in all that time.
Scientists know that CO² takes up to 1000 years to be drawn out of the atmosphere by the
natural processes of the planets biosphere. Trees, ocean growing algae, and marine shellfish
all process CO²
into solidly stored forms that can remain stable for thousands or even millions of
years.
The current levels of CO² in the atmosphere, the rate of increase of CO² emissions, and the
depletion
of the natural systems which reverse this process are all reasons why CO² based
warming will continue for a very, very long time to come unless we begin making significant
changes now.
Cutting livestock farming and it's methane will have an immediate effect on lowering the
temperature, and have immediate positive effects in a range of other areas.
In 2007 the revision of the IPCC report highlighted the fact that the effect of methane and other
short lived Greenhouse gases have been underestimate in their forcing effect on global
temperature rises.
Since then growing numbers of scientists have been calling for urgent action
to be taken on reducing
the emissions of these gases as a priority over straight carbon
emissions, since they are having a
greater and more immediate effect on the speed of
temperature rise.
Because livestock farming is the greatest contributor to human induced emissions of these
gases it has
been pointed out as the logical starting point for reductions to begin.
