Global Warming: Now’s the Time to Act

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

A temperature hike of just 3 degrees could melt enough of Greenland’s massive ice sheet to raise sea levels by 3 feet. A recent study found that Greenland is losing ice twice as fast as it was just a decade ago, and it already accounts for about 20 percent of the recent rise in sea level. The most conservative estimates of expanding oceans predict the displacement of millions of people who live on islands or along seacoasts.

Some experts think we could lose a quarter of all species on Earth in less than 50 years, and we’ve already killed 20 percent of the coral reefs in our oceans. Warmer temperatures also threaten agricultural productivity and will foster the spread of tropical diseases, such as malaria, which currently kills a million people annually.

After more than 150 years of industrialization, global warming has momentum; some climate change is now inevitable. But there may be time to avert some of the worst disasters, if we come to understand how interconnected we are with the natural systems that sustain us.

Individuals can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by conserving energy and driving less or driving more fuel-efficient vehicles. But it is now essential that the citizens and government of the United States rapidly assume a leadership role in developing comprehensive strategies to prevent the most severe dangers.

According to Jim Hansen, one of the first scientists to sound the global warming alarm, “We have to stabilize emissions of carbon dioxide within a decade. We cannot wait for new technologies. We have to act with what we have. This decade, that means focusing on energy efficiency and renewable sources of energy that do not burn carbon. We don’t have much time left.”

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print