New developments in the scientific study of anthropogenic climate change presented below my comments...<br><br>In a discussion of anthropogenic climate change recently, someone made the statement that "not enough progress is being made to address climate change." This utterance was from a progressive environmentally focused well educated individual, who fully acknowledges that human behavior is profoundly altering Earth's climate. I was dismayed at this comment, and responded "Progress? We are going backwards, with no progress being made at all!"<br>
<br>The following article from "Scientific American" from just the past few days factually supports my dismay. <br><br>Talk of progress being made to address climate change, and the reassuring speculation that adaptation to extreme climate change is a reasonable feasible option, is voiced by many progressive environmentally oriented individuals, who it appears are simply not facing the full implications of credible science indicating that adaptation to extreme climate change should only be viewed as a last resort response to emergency conditions, and that mitigation should be the primary focus. Of course, adaptation will be necessary, and should be planned. But it's dangerous to discuss adaption as though it is an excuse to not make radical and rapid changes to mitigate climate change:<br>
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<h1><a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/"><img src="http://www.scientificamerican.com/assets/img/logo_new.jpg" alt="Science News" title="Scientific American"></a></h1><font size="4">Global CO2 Emissions from Fossil-Fuel Burning Rise into High-Risk Zone
</font><p id="articleDek"><font size="4">Record emissions of carbon dioxide mean
atmospheric concentrations have reached levels that lead to the highest
temperature increases</font></p>
<p class="articleInfo">
<span class="byline">
By
<a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/author.cfm?id=2047">Lauren Morello</a>
and
<a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/author.cfm?id=2308">ClimateWire</a>
</span>
</p>
<p>
<font size="4">The world's carbon dioxide output hit a new record high last year and
is poised to break that record in 2012, according to a new study.</font></p>
<p><font size="4">
Global CO2 emissions grew 3 percent last year, and scientists with the
Global Carbon Project estimate they will grow another 2.6 percent this
year, to an estimated 35.6 billion metric tons. They expect the amount
of CO2 emitted this year by burning <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/topic.cfm?id=fossil-fuels">fossil fuels</a> to grow to 58 percent above the 1990 emissions level.</font></p>-----------------------------<br>
<br><font size="4">Discussion on today's "Democracy Now" regarding new World Bank sponsored report on the impacts of anthropogenic climate change. The discussion included emphasis on the threat of extreme heat waves, such as the US suffered last summer, becoming much more common over large areas:</font><br>
<br><a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2012/12/4/world_bank_study_warns_of_devastating">http://www.democracynow.org/2012/12/4/world_bank_study_warns_of_devastating</a><br><br>A shocking new report commissioned by the World Bank is warning
temperatures could rise by 4 degrees Celsius (7.2 degrees Fahrenheit) by
the end of the century, causing devastating food shortages, rising sea
levels, cyclones and drought — even if countries meet their current
pledges to reduce emissions. If these promises are not met, the increase
could happen even sooner. Meanwhile, scientists say it is still not too
late to minimize the devastating impact of climate change. A separate
report by the Climate Action Tracker says global warming could be kept
below 2 degrees. "This is an imminent risk that will affect every living
person on the planet if we push the ecosystems of the world into a
major extinction crisis," says Bill Hare, a leading physicist and
environmental scientist who helped produce both of these latest reports.
Hare is <span class="caps">CEO</span> and managing director of Climate
Analytics and the lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change’s 2007 reports, "Mitigation of Climate Change" and "The
Synthesis Report." Hare calls for a carbon tax — putting a small price
on emissions — to reduce the benefit of burning fossil fuels and enable
funding of new technologies to reduce the disastrous release of
greenhouse gases. [includes rush transcript]<br><br>-----------------------------<br><br><font size="4">Execuitive summary of the World Bank sponsored report is at website below:<br><br>Turn Down the Heat</font><br><br>November 2012<br>
Executive Summary<br><br>A Report for the World Bank<br>by the Potsdam Institute for<br>Climate Impact Research and<br>Climate Analytics<br><br><a href="http://climatechange.worldbank.org/sites/default/files/Turn_Down_the_Heat_Executive_Summary_English.pdf">http://climatechange.worldbank.org/sites/default/files/Turn_Down_the_Heat_Executive_Summary_English.pdf</a><br>
------------------------------------------<br>Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett<br>