THERE’S CLIMATE CHANGE. IT'S SERIOUS. REALLY.

Long Droughts, Rising Seas Predicted Despite Future CO2 Curbs
Juliet Eilperin, January 27, 2009 (Washington Post)
and
Global Warming Is Irreversible, Study Says
Richard Harris, January 26, 2009 (NPR)

LISTEN TO THE NPR REPORT

"Greenhouse gas levels currently expected by mid-century will produce devastating long-term droughts and a sea-level rise that will persist for 1,000 years regardless of how well the world curbs future emissions of carbon dioxide…Top climate researchers from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Switzerland and France said…

"…carbon dioxide will remain near peak levels in the atmosphere far longer than other greenhouse gases, which dissipate relatively quickly…carbon concentrations in the atmosphere stand at 385 parts per million…climate scientists and the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have set a goal of stabilizing atmospheric carbon at 450 ppm, but current projections put the world on track to hit 550 ppm by 2035, rising after that point by 4.5 percent a year…"

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"…if carbon dioxide concentrations peak at 600 ppm, several regions of the world -- including southwestern North America, the Mediterranean and southern Africa -- will face major droughts as bad or worse than the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. Global sea levels will rise by about three feet by the year 3000, a projection that does not factor in melting glaciers and polar ice sheets that would probably result in significant additional sea level rises.

"Even if the world managed to halt the carbon dioxide buildup at 450 ppm, the researchers concluded, the subtropics would experience a 10 percent decrease in precipitation…That level is still akin to mega-droughts such as the Dust Bowl. The already parched U.S. Southwest would probably see a 5 percent drop in precipitation during its dry season…while societies can try to adapt to reduced precipitation with better farming techniques and other measures, there is a limit to the ability to cope with severe drought…"

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"The rising sea levels anticipated under a conservative projection…would cause "irreversible commitments to future changes in the geography of the Earth…"

"…the world's oceans are already absorbing an enormous amount of carbon, but over time this will reach a limit and they will no longer absorb as much. As this happens, the atmospheric temperature will remain nearly constant.

"Most previous scientific analyses…have assessed climate change impacts on a 100-year time scale. A few researchers…have argued that it makes more sense to look at a time scale of at least 500 years…Carbon dioxide emissions account only for about half of human-induced global warming, but the several other gases that play a role, including methane, dissipate more quickly…

"A separate study in the same journal yesterday suggests that the iconic emperor penguins of the Antarctic could be headed to extinction by 2100 if the sea ice shrinks by the predicted amounts…Emperor penguins would have to migrate or change the timing of their growth stages to avoid extinction…"