The fate of "Spaceship Earth" & The Continued Debate Over Climate Change
It has been a busy few days on the continued debate over climate change. I had a chance to attend some of the sessions of the Clinton Global Initiatve. There was also a conference in New York prior to the beginning of the UN General Assembly. I was blown away by the committment made by the new Japanese Prime Minister and the Chinese President. As this debate continues, there are continued ominous signs that points to profound problems. In India, the Ganges is in trouble because of the losses in the Himalayan Glaciers. Rising sea levels in Bangladesh could lead to some 17 percent of Bangladesh's land area to be permanently submerged. With the continued losses of the Antartic land ice, this is well within the realm of the possible. According tot he Norwegian Polar Institute, this 1 percent loss will probably raise sea levels by 65cm. This change will displace an estimated 35 Million People in Bangladesh who will then have no where to go. This constitutes some 25% of the population of Bangladesh. What will happen to all those people then?
There is some degree of hope in the midst of all the doom and gloom. According to the Internationla Energy Agency, COS2 emissions from burning fossil fuels had undergone a signficant decline due to a large drop in industrial output. But, the fact still remains that The World's CO2 output is at 50 Gigatonnes. Lord Stern's report notes that the world has to cut that by 10% to 44 gigatonnes to avoid a rise in the temperatures by 2 degrees celsius. These are the realities and the naysayers and rejectionists need to really wake up and take a look around. The time for debate and discussions is really over. The time for action is now. Kyoto was ignored. The question is whether the world will have the foresight to realize that our "spaceship earth" must be saved. It should begin with each person committing to have at least one hour a day declared as "earth hour" and not wait for the annual Earth day to remember to save carpets, paint, constuction material and DVD's. The fierce urgency of now is ever more crucial now.
Mike Pouraryan
