Climate Change

Over the past several generations we have seen transportation revolutionized; industrial agriculture expanded to a global scale; and more materials and goods consumed than were used in the prior history of humankind.  If we look carefully, we also see that the very resources that enabled this bonanza (i.e., fossil fuels) have created a world-wide crisis.  Carbon dioxide (CO2) levels are presently the highest they have been in over 650,000 years and they are increasing at a rate of two ppm per year. Today, the concentration of carbon dioxide in our earth's atmosphere is at 387 ppm and climbing. Unless major steps are immediately taken, we will experience a world with hotter temperatures, stronger and more frequent storms and hurricanes, less access to clean water, and declining fish stocks and animal species.

Dr. James Hansen, head of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies says:  "If humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on earth is adapted, paleoclimate evidence and on-going climate change suggest that CO2 will need to be reduced from its current 385 ppm to at most 350 ppm."   Dr. Hansen goes on to say:  "If the present overshoot of this target CO2 is not brief, there is a possibility of seeding irreversible catastrophic effects.

What may be the greatest challenge ever faced by humankind lies before us.  And we are receiving clear messages that tell us time is running out.  What will be our response?

Click here for more on climate change, inlcuding a primer from the Union of Concerned Scientists.