Latest Hansen Climate Change Report Bleaker, More Urgent
by RP Siegel
Back in April, James Hansen described some newly discovered causes for concern about global warming impacts including the rapid disintegration of Antarctic ice sheets, and an ocean circulation pattern around the poles. Now, after further analysis, he and a team of 16 other scientists have issued a draft of a new report that ratchets up the level of concern and the need for urgent action. (It should be noted that the report has not yet been peer-reviewed.)
The report claims that the two-degree Celsius increase in temperature that has come to represent the accepted goal from emission reduction efforts, may not be good enough. It could lead to conditions that Hansen calls, “highly dangerous.”
Why? While previous studies assumed an orderly linear rate of disintegration of polar ice sheets, which directly drive sea level rise, newly recognized trends point to a more alarming picture.
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Image credit: Michael Leggero: Flickr Creative Commons
RP Siegel, author and inventor, shines a powerful light on numerous environmental and technological topics. He has been published in business and technical journals and has written three books. His third, co-authored with Roger Saillant, is Vapor Trails, an eco-thriller that is being adapted for the big screen. RP is a professional engineer – and a prolific inventor, with 50 patents, numerous awards, and several commercial products. He is president of Rain Mountain LLC and is an active environmental advocate in his hometown of Rochester, N.Y. In addition to Justmeans, he writes for Triple Pundit, ThomasNet News, and Energy Viewpoints, occasionally contributing to Mechanical Engineering, Strategy + Business, and Huffington Post.
