[Vision2020] Daily News, 9-30-16 "World Warming to Dangerous Mark"

[Ted Moffett]

*I was surprised to read the headline indicated in the subject heading.
And after reading the article, even more surprised to discover the emphasis
that the Dec. 2015 international Paris climate agreement is woefully
inadequate to prevent catastrophic climate change.*

*This is well known to those studying anthropogenic global warming (read
quote from climate scientist Stefan Rahmstorf at bottom), but the general
public and our political leaders, Democrats included, appear oblivious to
the magnitude of the changes needed to prevent catastrophic climate change.*

*Thus it is heartening to read exposure in the media of the full gravity of
the issue of global warming.*

*The Paris climate agreement itself, as limited as it is, is in jeopardy
here in the US, given the SCOTUS ruling in 2016 that temporarily blocked US
regulations of emissions from coal plants:*
*http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/10/us/politics/supreme-court-blocks-obama-epa-coal-emissions-regulations.html
<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/10/us/politics/supreme-court-blocks-obama-epa-coal-emissions-regulations.html>*
*These regulations are still pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
D.C. Circuit as this 9-23-16 article indicates:
https://www.nrdc.org/experts/david-doniger/clean-power-plan-comes-court-what-expect-next-Tuesday
<https://www.nrdc.org/experts/david-doniger/clean-power-plan-comes-court-what-expect-next-Tuesday>*
*If these regulations are blocked, the Paris climate agreement is in
question.*

*The report the Daily News article addresses is from the Universal
Ecological Fund and can be read here:  http://feu-us.org/the-report/
<http://feu-us.org/the-report/>  *
*or here:*
*https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B7HRGKIJWol-OEZfNDFjRHUwM2c
<https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B7HRGKIJWol-OEZfNDFjRHUwM2c>*
*There is a video offered that as far as I could determine offered no
verbal commentary.  *

*From the Daily News article: *

*Examining the carbon pollution cuts and curbs promised by 190 nations in
an agreement made in Paris last December, the scientists said it's simply
not enough.*

*"The pledges are not going to get even close," said report lead author Sir
Robert Watson, a University of East Anglia professor and former World Bank
chief scientist who used to be chairman of the United Nations'
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.  "If you governments of the
world are really serious, you're going to have to do way, way, more."*

*If carbon pollution continues with just the emission cuts pledged in
Paris, Earth will likely hit the danger mark by 2050.*
*----------------------------------------*
*At the end of the Daily News article a climate scientist I have studied
for years, Stefan Rahmstorf at Potsdam University in Germany, is quoted
addressing the UEF report.  He was awarded the $1 million Centennial
Fellowship Award of the US-based James S. McDonnell foundation, and is
one of the most well published climate scientists on the planet:
http://www.pik-potsdam.de/~stefan/ <http://www.pik-potsdam.de/~stefan/>  *
*https://www.climatecommunication.org/who-we-are/advisors/stefan-rahmstorf-2/
<https://www.climatecommunication.org/who-we-are/advisors/stefan-rahmstorf-2/>*

*Rahmstorf from the Daily News article:*

*"It is a good summary of what is common knowledge in the climate expert
community but not widely appreciated by members of the public and even
policy makers," said Stefan Rahmstorf, head of Earth system analysis at the
Potsdam Institute in Germany.*

*He said it is indeed a useful reminder notice to the world about what is
at stake.*
*-----------------------------------------*
*Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett*
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