Canada’s tar sands, deposits of sand saturated with bitumen, contain twice the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by global oil use in our entire history. If we were to fully exploit this new oil source, and continue to burn our conventional oil, gas and coal supplies, concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere eventually would reach levels higher than in the Pliocene era, more than 2.5 million years ago, when sea level was at least 50 feet higher than it is now. That level of heat-trapping gases would assure that the disintegration of the ice sheets would accelerate out of control. Sea levels would rise and destroy coastal cities. Global temperatures would become intolerable. Twenty to 50 percent of the planet’s species would be driven to extinction. Civilization would be at risk.
Game Over for the Climate - NYTimes.com
Stark assessment by James Hansen, NASA.
- Game Over for the Climate - James Hansen via NYTimes.com (underpaidgenius.com)
- Severe Weather, Climate and the State of the Evidence (green.blogs.nytimes.com)
- Must-Read: NASA’s James Hansen Slams Obama’s Lack Of Climate Leadership And Our ‘Immoral’ Inaction (thinkprogress.org)
- Watch this: Sundance Film Festival 2011 “Yelp” (futuristgerd.com)
- Read this: Larry Lessig on Facebook, Apple, and the Future of “Code” | John Battelle (futuristgerd.com)
Email
Twitter
Facebook
YouTube
Flickr
LinkedIn
Subscribe via RSS
Follow on Tumblr
Mobile version
Random post