Science Editor Mark Henderson at the London Times writes:
Global warming must stay below 2 degrees Celsius or world faces ruin, scientists declare
World carbon emissions must start to decline in only six years if humanity is to stand a chance of preventing dangerous global warming, a group of 20 Nobel prize-winning scientists, economists and writers declared today.
The United Nations climate summit in Copenhagen in December must agree to halve greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050 to stop temperatures from increasing by more than 2C (3.6F), the St James’s Palace Nobel Laureate Symposium concluded.
While even a 2C temperature rise will have adverse consequences, a bigger increase would create "unmanageable climate risks", according to the St James’s Palace memorandum, signed today by 20 Nobel laureates in physics, chemistry, economics, peace and literature. |
You can read their
full memorandum here. Excerpt:
Delivering an effective and just global agreement on climate change
Firm political leadership is now crucial. Leadership is primarily required from developed countries, acknowledging their historical responsibility as well as their financial and technological capacity. However, all countries will need to implement low carbon development strategies. In this spirit of trust, every country must act on the firm assumption that all others will also act. |
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The rescue begins below and continues in the jump.
Before heading off for a four-week vacation, lineatus wrote one more Dawn Chorus Birdblogs, this one a June Swoon: "There are two things that I learned as a Giants fan: 1. Their ballpark is great for birders. It's probably one of the most reliable spots for Ashy Storm-petrels anywhere, at the right time of year. You have swallows zipping past all night. And the gulls can read the scoreboard. (details in the comments if anyone's interested) 2. No matter how the Giants are doing in the early season, they run out of steam in June."
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A Rasmussen telephone survey earlier this year found that a plurality of Americans (44%) think global warming is caused by long-term planetary trends. Take tonight's poll.
Bug porn got some face time in in Frankenoid’s Saturday Morning Garden Blogging: "Between the bindweed and the rain I'm really, really behind on the yard work. I mean, the veggies are planted, but I haven't started putting the planters together and I've weeds popping up everywhere. The lawn needs mowed again, I haven't gotten the last batch of grass clippings mixed into the compost bin, and I still need to hack back the sweet autumn clematis and climbing rose, and get them lashed to the trellis."
rjones2818 reported that Dominicans defend biodiversity: "ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISTS around the Dominican Republic are mobilizing to stop the construction of a cement factory in the Los Haitises national park. The factory would displace 500 peasant families and degrade one of the most important ecosystems in the country and the Caribbean region."
wide eyed lib gives us some timely advice (even for those who still have a job) regarding Free Food: Foraging, Easing into Summer: "Today's first plant is wild ginger, also known as Indian ginger. This native herb grows pairs of bright green, opposite, heart-shaped leaves from a slender rhizome just an inch or so below the ground. ... Wild ginger is usually about 6 inches tall although it can reach a foot tall in certain places. The leaves range between 2 and 7 inches across. It loves shady, slightly damp woods with intact forest duff. In early to mid-Spring, wild ginger develops a purplish-brown flower that's unusual in that it has no true petals. Instead, three sepals curl back to expose the flower's creamy ovary. The flower is very small and inconspicious, often lying directly on the ground."
Mountain Top Mining Will Expand, reported dgil, who is furious about it: "The new administration's EPA has moved quietly and efficiently in approving more than 2 dozen new mountain top open mining projects. Until today it has flown off radar. Environmentalists that have fought MTM in the past are saying they have been betrayed, and that this has been done mainly to cement votes in weak D[emocratic] states like West Virginia."
sfnoggin let us know that the States Are Leading Way on Industrial Hemp.
paradox gave us the skinny on St. Jude's Food Bank Garden: "Almost every day I make it out to St. Jude’s to do something at the garden—four weeks into the seeds I can finally say that the beginning is over. I learned some watering symbology wrong for the valves and got horribly confused, even more than usual, ‘n I got blocked on spending the last $150 for bean poles and tomato cages, Jesus, am I made of cash? But those two issues were finally resolved and even I’m starting to feel pleased with the food bank garden start, some predictable problems weaved themselves into the beginning but all in all not a bad start."