Soooooo-- it must be GLOBAL WARMING's fault for the economic disasters that are coming! (Right.)
Amid Climate Change Inaction in Washington, Activist Urges Americans To 'Do The Math'
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/2012/11/16/climate-change-math-politicians_n_2147001.html?icid=hp_green_art_moreBill McKibben launches a "Do the Math" climate tour.McKibben isn't holding his breath. Instead, he plans to descend on Manhattan's Hammerstein Ballroom Friday night -- and on venues across the country over the next two weeks -- armed with three simple numbers that he believes will spur a global divestment campaign not unlike that which ultimately helped bring about the end of apartheid in South Africa.
In this case the target is not a racist political system, but peddlers of fossil fuels, and McKibben's magic numbers are 2, 565 and 2,795.
The number 2 stands for 2 degrees Celsius. This is the somewhat arbitrary number that, by dint of repetition since the mid-1990s and, perhaps, humanity's dislike of ambiguity, has become the upper threshold for what is considered tolerable planetary warming. Allowing average global temperatures to rise more than 2 degrees Celsius (roughly 3.6 degrees, for Fahrenheit holdouts in the U.S. and Belize) could well be a tipping point beyond which the planet's natural climate system, overloaded with human-produced greenhouse gases, goes permanently out of whack.
The curious can visit the National Snow and Ice Data Center to learn more about how that systemic breakdown might come about -- and it's worth noting that many scientists think a full 2 degree uptick in average global temperatures could be disastrous all on its own.
Two other key points: We're almost halfway there already, and it seems quite likely, given the greenhouse gases already built up in the atmosphere and the lack of coordinated action to curb that pollution, that we're hurtling headlong toward a 2 degree increase and perhaps well beyond.
That brings us to the two remaining numbers that McKibben wants to highlight: 565 and 2,795. The former is the upper limit, in gigatons, of carbon dioxide that many scientists believe humanity can still dump into the atmosphere to avoid the 2 degree uptick described above. The latter is the estimated amount, also in gigatons, of carbon dioxide embedded in the world's proven coal, oil and gas reserves. If we pull all of that out of the earth and burn it, McKibben suggests, the math doesn't add up very well for life on planet Earth.
If that arithmetic proves moving to enough people, McKibben reckons, it might be possible to focus their dismay at the bottom lines of fossil fuel companies and, in turn, diminish the industry's influence over leadership in Washington. "If we can show people that fossil fuels are to the planet's safety what the tobacco industry is to our individual health," McKibben said, "we may be able to loosen their grip on policy-making."
Central to that effort, McKibben says: Urging colleges and universities to divorce their endowments from fossil fuel stocks, much as those institutions were encouraged to divest from companies that did work in apartheid-era South
That earlier effort took decades to reach critical mass, of course, but by the late 1980s, dozens of colleges and universities had taken a stand, and it made a difference.
Last week, one day before President Obama was reelected, Unity College of Maine became the first college to announce plans to divest its endowment from fossil fuels. Whether the move will go unnoticed or will mark the start of a larger trend remains to be seen, but it does seem that frustration with Washington is mounting, and that the math is starting to sink in.
"We are running out of time," said Unity College president Stephen Mulkey in a statement explaining the decision last week. "While our public policy makers equivocate and avoid the topic of climate change, the window of opportunity for salvaging a livable planet for our children and grandchildren is rapidly closing.
"While there is much uncertainty about how climate change will play out with respect to specific regions and weather patterns, one thing is very clear: Our current emissions trajectory will carry us beyond 5 degrees Celsius average global warming by 2100," Mulkey added. "This will be a planet that is not consistent with our civilization, and science shows us that the impact will be largely irreversible for a millennium. I don't know how the stakes could get any higher."