TheTelegraph:Cancun climate change summit:scientists call for rationing in developed world
35 replies, posted
[B]The UK Telegraph
Cancun climate change summit: scientists call for rationing in developed world[/B]
[release]In a series of papers published by the Royal Society, physicists and chemists from some of world’s most respected scientific institutions, including Oxford University and the Met Office, agreed that current plans to tackle global warming are not enough.
Unless emissions are reduced dramatically in the next ten years the world is set to see temperatures rise by more than 4C (7.2F) by as early as the 2060s, causing floods, droughts and mass migration.
As the world meets in Cancun, Mexico for the latest round of United Nations talks on climate change, the influential academics called for much tougher measures to cut carbon emissions.
In one paper Professor Kevin Anderson, Director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, said the only way to reduce global emissions enough, while allowing the poor nations to continue to grow, is to halt economic growth in the rich world over the next twenty years.
This would mean a drastic change in lifestyles for many people in countries like Britain as everyone will have to buy less ‘carbon intensive’ goods and services such as long haul flights and fuel hungry cars.
Prof Anderson admitted it “would not be easy” to persuade people to reduce their consumption of goods
He said politicians should consider a rationing system similar to the one introduced during the last “time of crisis” in the 1930s and 40s.
This could mean a limit on electricity so people are forced to turn the heating down, turn off the lights and replace old electrical goods like huge fridges with more efficient models. Food that has travelled from abroad may be limited and goods that require a lot of energy to manufacture.
“The Second World War and the concept of rationing is something we need to seriously consider if we are to address the scale of the problem we face,” he said.
Prof Anderson insisted that halting growth in the rich world does not necessarily mean a recession or a worse lifestyle, it just means making adjustments in everyday life such as using public transport and wearing a sweater rather than turning on the heating.
“I am not saying we have to go back to living in caves,” he said. “Our emissions were a lot less ten years ago and we got by ok then.”
The last round of talks in Copenhagen last year ended in a weak political accord to keep temperature rise below the dangerous tipping point of 2C(3.6F).
This time 194 countries are meeting again to try and make the deal legally binding and agree targets on cutting emissions.
At the moment efforts are focused on trying to get countries to cut emissions by 50 per cent by 2050 relative to 1990 levels.
But Dr Myles Allen, of Oxford University’s Department of Physics, said this might not be enough. He said that if emissions do not come down quick enough even a slight change in temperature will be too rapid for ecosystems to keep up. Also by measuring emissions relative to a particular baseline, rather than putting a limit on the total amount that can ever be pumped into the atmosphere, there is a danger that the limit is exceeded.
“Peak warming is determined by the total amount of carbon dioxide we release into the atmosphere, not the rate we release it in any given year,’ he said. “Dangerous climate change, however, also depends on how fast the planet is warming up, not just how hot it gets, and the maximum rate of warming does depend on the maximum emission rate. It’s not just how much we emit, but how fast we do so.”
Other papers published on ‘4C and beyond’ in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A warned of rising sea levels, droughts in river basins and mass migrations.
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Source:[url]http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/copenhagen-climate-change-confe/8165769/Cancun-climate-change-summit-scientists-call-for-rationing-in-developed-world.html[/url]
Rationing Electricity? good luck with that. In the mean time I'll be over here running my generator to keep my food fresh in my electric powered refrigerator.
Chances are this could affect the internet too.
Pfff, man-made global warming doesn't exist, it's all propaganda.
[QUOTE=seano12;26400626]Pfff, man-made global warming doesn't exist, it's all propaganda.[/QUOTE]
why do all the arguments get sparked at the beginning?
ughhhhh
That title is a mess
[QUOTE=Tetracycline;26400630]why do all the arguments get sparked at the beginning?
ughhhhh[/QUOTE]
Welcome to facepunch how may I take your order?
I know this is going to sound like I am a jerk, but studies in Denmark has showed that global warming as this would make Denmark have a climate like Northern Spain within the next 100 years.
Which, unfortunatly, a lot of danes like.
I'm not going to ration, it has taken a lot of time for the world to get where it is now, this would be a step back. Of course, unless Keanu Reeves suddenly appears in a giant space ship with robots waiting to kill me, then I might be more inclined...
[QUOTE=Beafman;26400697]I know this is going to sound like I am a jerk, but studies in Denmark has showed that global warming as this would make Denmark have a climate like Northern Spain within the next 100 years.
Which, unfortunatly, a lot of danes like.
I'm not going to ration, it has taken a lot of time for the world to get where it is now, this would be a step back. Of course, unless Keanu Reeves suddenly appears in a giant space ship with robots waiting to kill me, then I might be more inclined...[/QUOTE]
Would fuck up Australia real bad though
There are much easier ways to effectively combat climate change instead of rationing electricity, goddamn.
[QUOTE=Lambeth;26400812]There are much easier ways to effectively combat climate change instead of rationing electricity, goddamn.[/QUOTE]
I like the idea of mice running on a wheel inside our computers as a means to save electricity.
[quote]making adjustments in everyday life such as using public transport and wearing a sweater rather than turning on the heating.[/quote]
i see nothing wrong with this concept
[editline]30th November 2010[/editline]
[QUOTE=seano12;26400626]Pfff, man-made global warming doesn't exist, it's all propaganda.[/QUOTE]
to do what
every single major industry would benefit from global warming not existing, what is the motivation behind this propaganda?
What about those of us who get cold easy even with a sweater?
[QUOTE=Glaber;26401014]What about those of us who get cold easy even with a sweater?[/QUOTE]
the idea behind environmentalism is not making the world better without sacrifice. nobody will claim that
a destructive society cannot co-exist with nature, so the society destroys nature
[QUOTE=thisispain;26401000]every single major industry would benefit from global warming not existing, what is the motivation behind this propaganda?[/QUOTE]
To make us slaves.
[QUOTE=seano12;26401068]To make us slaves.[/QUOTE]
man you don't know shit about what it is to be a slave
[editline]30th November 2010[/editline]
btw you are ridiculously corny
[QUOTE=thisispain;26401083]man you don't know shit about what it is to be a slave
[/QUOTE]
You see, it goes all the way back to the ancestors on my father's side...
[QUOTE=seano12;26401106]You see, it goes all the way back to the ancestors on my father's side...[/QUOTE]
If being a slave means what we're able to do then sign me up
There is so much wrong with this article. First question i have to ask is, what the hell do chemists and physicists know about economics? Also what is the point in rationing electricity? If we are running short on energy the solution would not be to use less and less until there was none left, the solution would be to find alternative sources. The problem with this is that it is human nature to be greedy and the people in control of energy supply etc would rather charge high prices for what they already have than invest in better sources of energy.
That and the fact that global warming is bullshit, and a scam to stick a green tax on everything (at least this is the case is Britain).
Except we aren't running out of energy. The environmental impact of the energy we use is essentially too large to be sustained according to the scientists.
What environmental impact is there exactly? For every scientist who argues that climate change will kill us all in 100 years there is another one saying that the temperature difference is natural of the earth and is to be expected.
[QUOTE=bli_191;26401514]What environmental impact is there exactly? For every scientist who argues that climate change will kill us all in 100 years there is another one saying that the temperature difference is natural of the earth and is to be expected.[/QUOTE]By another one you mean one not qualified in the field, same deal as those scientists truthers bring out to back their crazy theories. Consensus amongst climatologists is damn near unanimous.
[QUOTE=Glaber;26401014]What about those of us who get cold easy even with a sweater?[/QUOTE]
Wear a parka
[editline]30th November 2010[/editline]
[QUOTE=seano12;26401068]To make us slaves.[/QUOTE]
slaves to what
Fucking leftist commies wanting to make the world better
what gives them the right
time to go drill oil brb
FUCK THEIR SHIT. Just because of this, I'm gonna take a ride in my Lexus SUV downtown and engage in some conspicious consumption. Fucking third world ingrates.
[QUOTE=Beafman;26400697]I know this is going to sound like I am a jerk, but studies in Denmark has showed that global warming as this would make Denmark have a climate like Northern Spain within the next 100 years.
Which, unfortunatly, a lot of danes like.
[/QUOTE]
I don't think they like it that much when it actually happens. If the change would be that radical, the ocean level would rise many many meters.
[QUOTE=Gentlemanne;26406072]FUCK THEIR SHIT. Just because of this, I'm gonna take a ride in my Lexus SUV downtown and engage in some conspicious consumption. Fucking third world ingrates.[/QUOTE]
Be sure to yell at some homeless people to get a job.
This doesn't mean they're going to cut your electricity supply in the middle of the night, so don't worry about your videogames.
[QUOTE=Rubs10;26406323]This doesn't mean they're going to cut your electricity supply in the middle of the night, so don't worry about your videogames.[/QUOTE]
I don't really give a fuck if they try(operative word) to take my house or some spare lightbulbs, this shit is mine.
I can't believe this article ever happening, this sounds like North Korea but for everyone.
Scientists are retarded.
The key to doing this right is killing the factories that supply most of the pollution and replacing them with more efficent methods.
not rationing everything so HERPADERP YOU ONLY GET TO DRIVE TWO MILES A WEEK SO WE CAN KEEP A FACTORY THAT WAS BUILT IN 1910 RUNNING
Technology fixes problems.
In Cancun huh? Sounds like a government-paid vacation to me.
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