A shaken United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reacted to a recent visit to the Arctic region by telling reporters of the "frightening" experience of witnessing first-hand the effects of global warming in the Arctic, calling the region the "canary in a coal mine" warning for all humanity.
Upon his return, as reported in the second video, Ki-moon gave a speech at the World Climate Conference in which he said the world is "hurtling towards a climate catastrophe."
"Our foot is stuck on the accelerator and we are heading towards an abyss," he said. "Scientists have been accused for years of scaremongering. But the real scaremongers are those who say we cannot afford climate action — that it will hold back economic growth. They are wrong. Climate change could spell widespread disaster."
Drought leading to Chaotic Conditions
Mexico is enduring its worst drought in six decades. Crops are drying up in the fields and water is being rationed in the capital. Residents of poor neighborhoods have hijacked water trucks, and there are other signs of social tensions building. El Niño, a weather pattern that warms water in the Pacific Ocean and leads to changing weather around the Pacific Basin, is causing the drought, Mexican officials say.
Some of Mexico’s neighbors have been grappling with similar problems. Guatemala declared “a state of calamity” last week, because the drought has caused shortages of staples like corn and beans. The government plans to deliver food packages to 400,000 families, Reuters reported. (see Elisabeth Malkin, "Mexico Now Enduring Worst Drought in Years" at www.nytimes.com, September 12, 2009)
Running Out of Time
We are running out of time. The world must cut carbon emissions by 80% by 2020 to avert catastrophe, according to paleoclimate scientist Dr Andrew Glikson. “The ocean/atmosphere system is fast tracking to conditions similar to those of an ice-free earth .. [we need] Urgent deep reductions in carbon emissions, on the scale of at last 5% per year, relative to 1990 … The alternative to urgent fast tracked mitigation efforts does not bear contemplation” (see Andrew Glikson, “21st century carbon blueprints: perspective from the recent history of the atmosphere”, July 2009)
11 comments:
How long has the public been aware of global warming and the dangerous consequences it will have on the planet? When will people change the way they live to help sustain resources and the climate of the planet? I feel that if everyone changed the way they live by being more environmentally conciouss that we can be the CHANGE!
We've been aware of Global Warming for quite some time now, but The reason I believe that it hasn't been taken as seriously as it should be is because the for the most part living in the USA we have so much of everything (food, water, clothing, etc.) that we don't really feel the effects as much as poorer countries. But this is also due to the fact that the North and South Poles are effected by global warming the most since they are closest to the sun, which is exactly what Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reported from his trip to the Arctic.
-Bishara Ari
We need better bicycle paths and walkways on the big island.
I just learned about global warming in Calton's MGT 423. Global warming is truely real. Many people don't realize that all the gases and toxins released into the environment is causing the glaciers in the North Pole to melt. The world's sea level is rising and people need to realize that the increase in sea level will eventually lead to coverage of many different countries. All coastines throughout the world may be underwater if nothing is done.
Global warming is affecting us greatly. The amount of methane gas stored under the artic caps is massive and methane is more toxic than Co2 so if the temperature keeps rising it will be released into the athmosphere. Al Gore's Inconvienent Truth is a good movie to watch.
Living in the United States we don't feel like were affected by Global Warming because it seems as if we have an unlimited amount of resources. But the truth is were far from it and if anyones helping global warming to be even a bigger issue than it already is, its "US". We might not see the change now but we have to face reality some time and trust me now is better even in this recession. In this "Green Warriors" Club that Im in for school, we are looking at ways to help our environment so we can use its resources to assist our school. By using the resources we have around us in the environment to help run electricity we can save money and the world. I know no matter what we do it still might not help the rest of the world but hopefully when people wake up and see that there's a crisis here the world will finally change.
Global warming has been an issue to people for a very long time now. You would think that when people heard that our planet was dying they would want to have some part in saving it for the next generations to come.
the world has been told this so many times. its not like this is new news to us. the problem is that nobody wants to change their lifestyle, and its hurting our planet. the only way to make all of this better is if we can all agree to change.
Global warming has been a issue for a long time. Pollution produced by factories and other crap has been around for a long time. Now that things are are getting worse people are trying to stop it now. You cant stop global warming, the only thing we can do right now is to slow it down, but if we do try to stop global warming then thats putting a stop to human expansion and advancement.
I'm aware that global warming is happening and still people are unaware or don't care about the situation we are "all" in beacuse this is our world and only we can change the outcome.
Global warming has been a very awared of issue for a while now. To hear the things or negatives that this could/has caused makes people worry about what will happen to our plants in the next couple decades or just years. I have enjoyed reading this article and if we could get this issue out to more of the public and through their heads than i think we as whole can start to make a very useful/productive change.
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