[Vision2020] Warning From Copenhagen: 2500 Participants: 1400Scientific Presentations: Warming Irreversible For a Thousand Years

[g. crabtree]

So, what makes Stefan Rahmstorf, "A physicist and oceanographer by 
training," a more credible voice on "the anthropogenic climate crisis" then:

Dr. David Bromwich—president of the International Commission on Polar 
Meteorology?

or

Prof. Hendrik Tennekes—director of research, Royal Netherlands 
Meteorological Institute?

or

Dr. Christopher Landsea—past chairman of the American Meteorological 
Society's Committee on Tropical Meteorology and Tropical Cyclones?

or

Dr. Antonino Zichichi—one of the world's foremost physicists, former 
president of the European Physical Society, who discovered nuclear 
antimatter?

or

Dr. Zbigniew Jaworowski—world-renowned expert on the ancient ice cores used 
in climate research?

or

Prof. Tom V. Segalstad—head of the Geological Museum, University of Oslo?

or

Dr. Syun-Ichi Akasofu—founding director of the International Arctic Research 
Center, twice named one of the "1,000 Most Cited Scientists?

or

Dr. Claude Allegre—member, U.S. National Academy of Sciences and French 
Academy of Science?

or

Dr. Richard Lindzen—Professor of Meteorology at M.I.T., member, the National 
Research Council Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate?

or

Dr. Richard Tol—Principal researcher at the Institute for Environmental 
Studies at Vrije Universiteit, and Adjunct Professor at the Center for 
Integrated Study of the Human Dimensions of Global Change, at Carnegie 
Mellon University?

or

Prof. Freeman Dyson—one of the world's most eminent physicists?

g
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Ted Moffett
To: Moscow Vision 2020
Sent: Sunday, June 28, 2009 5:55 PM
Subject: [Vision2020] Warning From Copenhagen: 2500 Participants: 
1400Scientific Presentations: Warming Irreversible For a Thousand Years


It would be wonderful progress if all those in public political positions, 
who have no specialized expertise in climate science (or those few, if any, 
who might), would publicly address the anthropogenic climate crisis, 
conceding that the consensus among currently publishing climate scientists 
(in credible peer reviewed journals) is overwhelming that humans are 
altering climate in a potentially catastrophic manner.  Everyone in public 
political life who publicly minimizes this danger, offering support to the 
claim that there is substantial scientific evidence that the consensus 
position among climate scientists is seriously doubtful, is part of the 
problem, rather than the solution.  The more citizens who demand action to 
address anthropogenic climate change, the easier it will be for the private 
and public sectors to address the problem:

Article "A Warning From Copenhagen" below from climate scientist Stefan 
Rahmstorf.  Rahmstorf's bio:

http://www.realclimate.org/index.php?p=53
A physicist and oceanographer by training, Stefan Rahmstorf has moved from 
early work in general relativity theory to working on climate issues.
He has done research at the New Zealand Oceanographic Institute, at the 
Institute of Marine Science in Kiel and since 1996 at the Potsdam Institute 
for Climate Impact Research in Germany (in Potsdam near Berlin).
His work focuses on the role of ocean currents in climate change, past and 
present.
In 1999 Rahmstorf was awarded the $ 1 million Centennial Fellowship Award of 
the US-based James S. McDonnell foundation.
Since 2000 he teaches physics of the oceans as a professor at Potsdam 
University.
-----------
A warning from Copenhagen
Filed under:
Reporting on climate
Climate Science
— stefan

http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2009/06/a-warning-from-copenhagen/#more-690

In March the biggest climate conference of the year took place in 
Copenhagen: 2500 participants from 80 countries, 1400 scientific 
presentations. Last week, the Synthesis Report of the Copenhagen Congress 
was handed over to the Danish Prime Minister Rasmussen in Brussels. Denmark 
will host the decisive round of negotiations on the new climate protection 
agreement this coming December.
The climate congress was organised by a "star alliance" of research 
universities: Copenhagen, Yale, Berkeley, Oxford, Cambridge, Tokyo, 
Beijing - to name a few. The Synthesis Report is the most important update 
of climate science since the 2007 IPCC report.
So what does it say? Our regular readers will hardly be surprised by the key 
findings from physical climate science, most of which we have already 
discussed here. Some aspects of climate change are progressing faster than 
was expected a few years ago - such as rising sea levels, the increase of 
heat stored in the ocean and the shrinking Arctic sea ice. "The updated 
estimates of the future global mean sea level rise are about double the IPCC 
projections from 2007″, says the new report. And it points out that any 
warming caused will be virtually irreversible for at least a thousand 
years - because of the long residence time of CO2 in the atmosphere.
Perhaps more interestingly, the congress also brought together economists 
and social scientists researching the consequences of climate change and 
analysing possible solutions. Here, the report emphasizes once again that a 
warming beyond 2ºC is a dangerous thing:
Temperature rises above 2ºC will be difficult for contemporary societies to 
cope with, and are likely to cause major societal and environmental 
disruptions through the rest of the century and beyond.
(Incidentally, by now 124 nations have officially declared their support for 
the goal of limiting warming to 2ºC or less, including the EU - but 
unfortunately not yet the US.)
------------------------------------------
Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett



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