Moksha rebirth and climate change.

[Guest guest]

Sharp rise in CO2 levels recorded

By David Shukman

BBC science correspondent

 

 

 

US climate scientists have recorded a significant rise in the

concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, pushing it to a

new record level.

BBC News has learned the latest data shows CO2 levels now stand at

381 parts per million (ppm) - 100ppm above the pre-industrial

average.

 

The research indicates that 2005 saw one of the largest increases on

record - a rise of 2.6ppm.

 

The figures are seen as a benchmark for climate scientists around

the globe.

 

The chief carbon dioxide analyst for the US National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) says the latest data confirms a

worrying trend that recent years have, on average, recorded double

the rate of increase from just 30 years ago.

 

 

Mankind is changing the climate

Professor Sir David King,

UK chief scientific adviser

 

" We don't see any sign of a decrease; in fact, we're seeing the

opposite, the rate of increase is accelerating, " Dr Pieter Tans told

the BBC.

 

The precise level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is of global

concern because climate scientists fear certain thresholds may

be " tipping points " that trigger sudden changes.

 

The UK government's chief scientific adviser, Professor Sir David

King, said the new data highlighted the importance of taking urgent

action to limit carbon emissions.

 

" Today we're over 380 ppm, " he said. " That's higher than we've been

for over a million years, possibly 30 million years. Mankind is

changing the climate " .

 

 

 

British Scientist Lovelock Says it's Too Late To Reverse Global

Warming

 

 

By Staff

 

(EUNN) London - James Lovelock, 81, a Fellow of the Royal Society

and honorary visiting professor at Oxford University, says it is too

late for the world to turn around the damage that's been done to

Earth's climate and warned the leading nations to prepare for what

he called " living hell " as the earth's climate continues to grow

warmer.

 

Lovelock was responsible for the discovery of the global

distribution of nitrous oxide and of the chlorofluorocarbons, both

of which are important in the stratospheric chemistry of ozone.

 

If a lesser scientist made such a prediction they'd be ridiculed.

But Lovelock, now 81, has received a slew of environmental and

scientific awards and honours in the US, Europe and Japan.

 

Before this century is over, billions of us will die, and the few

breeding pairs of people who survive will be in the Arctic where the

climate will be tolerable, Lovelock maintains.

 

According to Lovelock, the world has already passed the point of no

return for climate change, and civilisation as we know it is

unlikely to survive.

 

The theory holds that the planet has a special way of regulating

itself, chemically and atmospherically, of keeping itself fit for

life, as if it were a great superorganism; as if, in fact, it were

alive.

 

 

 

 

Lovelock, who conceived the idea in the 1970s while examining the

possibility of life on Mars for Nasa, has been warning of the

dangers of climate change since major concerns about it first began

to surface nearly 20 years ago.

 

 

 

 

Now his concerns have reached a peak and have a new emphasis. Rather

than calling for further ways of countering climate change, he is

calling on governments around the world to begin large-scale

preparations for surviving.

 

" I think we have little option now but to prepare for the worst, "

Lovelock recently told western governments, " and assume that we have

passed the threshold. We will do our best to survive but sadly I

cannot see the US or the emerging economies of China and India

cutting back in time, and they are the main source of emissions. "