Sour News From Poznan: Why We Must Avoid Warming of 2 Degrees C

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“The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC), … has suggested greenhouse gas emission
cuts … to avoid a 2°Celsius increase in global
temperature. …. An increase of this magnitude
is expected to destroy 30 percent to 40 percent
of all known species, generate bigger, fiercer
and more frequent heat waves and droughts, and
more intense weather events like floods and
cyclones.”
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JOHANNESBURG, 15 December 2008 (IRIN) – Maldives,
an archipelago off the southeastern coast of
India, told the climate change conference in
Poznan, Poland, that even a 2°C rise in
temperature would take the world into the “danger
zone” of irreversible climate change.

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Poznan & THE 300-350 SHOW: Forests and Biofuels

—————————- Original Message —————————-
Subject: The 300-350 Show: Forests and Biofuels
From:    “Phil England” <phil@switch-off.co.uk>
Date:    Fri, December 12, 2008 3:47 pm
To:      phil@switch-off.co.uk
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Dear Friends,

THE 300-350 SHOW: Forests and Biofuels

We continue our coverage of the UN Climate Talks in Poznan, Poland where the
big issue on the table is “how to reduce emissions from deforestation”? The
big push from investors is to incorporate forests into the carbon markets,
but this approach is riddled with problems. Friends of the Earth
International has warned that this would “create the climate regime’s
biggest ever loophole.” We speak to Miguel Lovera, chair of the Global
Forest Coalition about his concerns and his proposals for an alternative way
forward.

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From Bolivian President Evo Morales: *20 Ways to Save Mother Earth and Prevent Environmental Disaster*

By Evo Morales, International Journal of Socialist Renewal
December 15, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/story/112765/

Sisters and brothers, today our Mother Earth is ill. From the beginning of the 21st century we have lived the hottest years of the last thousand years.

Global warming is generating abrupt changes in the weather: the retreat of glaciers and the decrease of the polar ice caps; the increase of the sea level and the flooding of coastal areas, where approximately 60% of the world population live; the increase in the processes of desertification and the decrease of fresh water sources; a higher frequency in natural disasters that the communities of the earth suffer[1]; the extinction of animal and plant species; and the spread of diseases in areas that before were free from those diseases.

One of the most tragic consequences of the climate change is that some nations and territories are the condemned to disappear by the increase of the sea level.

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Paper: Are We Avoiding a 2 Celsius Warming Yet?

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” …;  society can no longer await the decadal
timeframes necessary for a transition
to low-carbon energy supply. If the 2 °C
threshold is to maintain any meaningful
currency, industrialised nations have little
option but to radically and urgently
curtail their demand for energy.”
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Energy Policy
36 (2008) 3714-3722

From long-term targets to cumulative emission pathways
Kevin Anderson, Alice Bows, Sarah Mander: The
Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, MACE,
University of Manchester, Manchester M601QD, UK

Received 14 March 2008;
accepted 5 July 2008.
Available online 8 August 2008.

Abstract

In March 2007, the EU reaffirmed its commitment
to making its fair contribution to global mean
surface temperatures not exceeding 2 °C above
pre-industrial levels. In line with this, the UK
Government has laid legal foundations for an
emissions cut of 60% by 2050. Whilst 2050
reductions dominate the target-setting agenda,
long-term targets do not have a scientific basis
and are leading to dangerously misguided
policies. If a policy is to be scientifically
credible, it must be informed by an understanding
of cumulative emissions and associated emissions
pathways. This analysis of current UK climate
policy illustrates how following the “correlation
trail” from global temperature thresholds to
national emissions pathways fundamentally
reframes the UK’s targets. Considering cumulative
emissions, carbon cycle feedbacks and the
omission of emissions from international
transport dramatically increases both the scale
and immediacy with which emissions need to be
reduced; for example, within the UK, 6-9% p.a.
reductions beginning as early as 2012. The
implications of this are stark; society can no
longer await the decadal timeframes necessary for
a transition to low-carbon energy supply. If the
2 °C threshold is to maintain any meaningful
currency, industrialised nations have little
option but to radically and urgently curtail
their demand for energy.

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