Slipr

We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time…. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is deaf to every plea and rushes on. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residue of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words: “Too late.”

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Filed under: climate change, climate change

Chinese official urges practical action to slow down climate change

While working on a long-term target for slowing down the climate change, all countries involved should be aware that the formulating process itself must be scientific, environmentally valid, economically feasible and fair, he said, adding that historical accumulation, per capital emissions and the development demand of the developing countries should also be weighed as well.

Except, what if, because reasonable projections tell us that we must peak our carbon emissions in just seven years — by 2015 — and drastically reduce them thereafter, while at the same time the IEA projects that world energy demand will increase by 50% by 2030, the situation is dire enough that no plausible solution is going to be anything other than economically painful, messy, and probably horribly unfair? And even a little bit, as we scramble to try everything, unscientific?

Safe money says the 200-odd sovereign nations of this planet, who can hardly agree not to destroy each other in fruitless wars, are going to have a hard time all signing on to radical changes to their economy and infrastructure in service of not hitting those carbon cycle feedback tipping points.

Filed under: climate change, climate change