Stern Even Sterner on Climate Change Forecast : Miami IMC

Tuesday, Lord Stern updated his report saying: "We badly underestimated the degree of damages and the risks of climate change. All of the links in the chain are on average worse than we thought a couple of years ago."

"People who said this (the first report) was scaremongering are profoundly wrong. If anything, I was too reticent. What we are playing for is the transformation of the planet," he said.

"We need to have zero carbon electricity, or very close to it, by 2050. That means carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) in electricity by 2050, it means nuclear, it means renewables," he said.

This new analysis is quite commensurate with what Dr. James Hansen, the chief US climatologist, has been saying lately. "Dr. James Hansen is one of the few scientists who have consistently warned that the impact that humans have on the climate is bringing about changes that are faster than we ever believed and may be irreversible if action is not taken now." He recently spoke in Houston on the subject. (2)

The Independent Newspaper of England published this report on Lord Stern's re-evaluation:
Stern warns that climate change is far worse than 2006 estimate
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/stern-warns-that-climate-change-is-far-worse-than-2006-estimate-810488.html

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1) Stern Review,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stern_Review

2) Hansen in Huston audio: free on-line, 60 min.
THE THREAT TO THE PLANET

Part 1
http://www.tucradio.org/A305PODhansenone.mp3

Part 2
http://www.tucradio.org/A305PODhansentwo.mp3

Q and A
http://www.tucradio.org/A305HansenQ_A.mp3

A team of Australian Research Scientists have concluded a month-long oceanic cruise measuring ocean currents between Australia and Antarctica.(1)

They have found that the salinity of the ocean around Antarctica is decreasing, which will impact the rate at which water sinks. This is the same problem that scientists worry about in the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation (the North Atlantic Conveyor) which has been proven to have caused snaps into ice age conditions.

On the other side of the globe, researchers have found that the Canadian Arctic Ice Sheet has lost 90% of its size since 1900.(2) What is left has broken into three giant pieces, and it is feared that the remaining ice shelf will disintegrate within the next few years.

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1) Ocean salinity evidence of climate change: researchers, 4/17/08
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/04/17/2219659.htm

2) Ward Hunt Ice Shelf, Largest In Northern Hemisphere, Has Fractured Into Three Main Pieces, 4/16/08
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080415205350.htm