From bad to worse
If you thought you knew all about climate change, and that you truly understood what we are up against, think again.
The overwhelming scientific evidence presented at the climate change conference in Copenhagen during the last 3 days have been quite stunning and very disturbing, to say the very least. The urgency is immense, the actions too whimpy, and the speed of change too slow.
“Have you ever played Russion Roulette?” John Schellnhuber, director of PIK and climate advisor of the German government, asked at his plenary speech. Nobody of the several thousand scientists in the hand raised his or her hand. “Well, we all are plaing it right now.”
Russian Roulette is the fun game of loosing your life with a 1 out of 6 chance. Actually, seems not really such a fun game if you think about it. If you have seen Harry Potter, when Harry, Ron, and Hermione play wizzard chess, you know what I mean.
After calculations by Malte Meinhausen from PIK, we have a 1 out of 6 chance to NOT stay underneath a global warming of 2 Degrees celsius even with an 80% cut of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 compared to 1990 levels.
Think about it. We have an about 16% chance to face a global catastrophe. As became apparent at this conference, a warming by more than 2 Degrees Celsius wouldbe “very difficult”.
Maiken Winter
Tags: climate change, conference, Copenhagen
