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<DIV><FONT size=4>I'm glad I don't have many years left.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><BR>Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)<BR><A
href="mailto:deco@moscow.com">deco@moscow.com</A><BR></FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=Tbertruss@aol.com
href="mailto:Tbertruss@aol.com">Tbertruss@aol.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">vision2020@moscow.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Monday, January 24, 2005 11:31
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Vision2020] Global warming
approaching critical point</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2
FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"><BR>
<P align=center><B>Report: Global warming approaching critical point<BR><BR>
<P align=left></B>'An ecological time-bomb is ticking away'<BR><BR>Monday,
January 24, 2005 Posted: 12:30 PM EST (1730 GMT) <BR>var clickExpire =
"02/23/2005";<IMG height=1 src="http://i.cnn.net/cnn/images/1.gif" width=10
border=0 DATASIZE="43"> <IMG height=242
src="http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/TECH/science/01/24/climate.change.ap/story.vert.globe.jpg"
width=220 border=0 DATASIZE="8133">An NOAA image of global surface
temperatures.<BR><BR><BR><B>LONDON, England (AP) -- Global warming is
approaching the critical point of no return, after which widespread drought,
crop failure and rising sea-levels would be irreversible, an international
climate change task force warned Monday.<BR><BR></B>The report, "Meeting the
Climate Challenge," called on the G-8 leading industrial nations to cut carbon
emissions, double their research spending on green technology and work with
India and China to build on the Kyoto Protocol.<BR><BR>"An ecological
time-bomb is ticking away," said Stephen Byers, who co-chaired the task force
with U.S. Republican Senator Olympia Snowe, and is a close confidant of
British Prime Minister Tony Blair. "World leaders need to recognize that
climate change is the single most important long term issue that the planet
faces."<BR><BR>The independent report, by the Institute for Public Policy
Research in Britain, the Center for American Progress in the United States and
The Australia Institute, is timed to coincide with Blair's commitment to
advance international climate change policy during Britain's G-8
presidency.<BR><BR>Byers said it was vital Blair secured U.S. cooperation in
tackling climate change. U.S. President George W. Bush has rejected the Kyoto
accord, arguing that the carbon emission cuts it demands would damage the U.S.
economy.<BR><BR>"What we have got to do then is get the Americans as part of
the G-8 to engage in international concerted effort to tackle global warming,"
said Byers. "If they refuse to do that then other countries will be reluctant
to take any steps."<BR><BR>According to the report, urgent action is needed to
stop the global average temperature rising by 2 degrees Celsius above the
level in 1750 -- the approximate start of the Industrial Revolution when
mankind first started significantly polluting the atmosphere with carbon
dioxide.<BR><BR>Beyond a 2 degrees rise, "the risks to human societies and
ecosystems grow significantly" the report said, adding there would be a risk
of "abrupt, accelerated, or runaway climate change."<BR><BR>It warned of
"climatic tipping points" such as the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets
melting and the Gulf Stream shutting down.<BR><BR>No accurate temperature
readings were available for 1750, the report said, but since 1860, global
average temperature had risen by 0.8 percent to 15 degrees Celsius.<BR><BR>The
two degrees rise could be avoided by keeping the concentration of carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere below 400 parts per million (ppm). Current
concentrations of 379 ppm "are likely to rise above 400 ppm in coming decades
and could rise far higher under a business-as-usual scenario," the report
warned.<BR><BR>The task force urges all G-8 countries to agree to generate a
quarter of their electricity from renewable sources by 2025 and to shift
agricultural subsidies from food crops to biofuels.<BR><BR>The report
recommends wider international use of emission trading schemes which are
already in use in the European Union, under which unused carbon dioxide quotas
are sold. The profit motive is expected to drive investment in new technology
to cut emissions further.<BR><BR>The task force of senior politicians,
scientists and business figures was established in March 2004. Its chief
scientific adviser is Dr. Rajendra K. Pachauri, chairman of the U.N.'s
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.<BR><BR>The British government
welcomed the report, which mirrors many of the suggestions already floated by
Blair in the build up to Britain's G-8 presidency.<BR><BR>Blair has
acknowledged the importance of U.S. cooperation, but conceded Washington is
unlikely to sign up to Kyoto. Instead he is pursuing international commitment
to developing new environmentally friendly technology.<BR><BR><BR><A
href="http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science/01/24/climate.change.ap/index.html">http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science/01/24/climate.change.ap/index.html</A><BR><BR>---------------------------<BR><BR>V2020
Post by Ted Moffett<BR><BR></P>
<P></P></FONT>
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