Elections are over. It’s a sigh of relief for some and a woe is us for others, but at least all the campaigning, promises and half-truths are back on the back-burner. The new wave of policy-makers are very likely to breathe new life into Keystone XL and other pipeline projects. As constituents, it is up to us to educate them on the importance of transitioning to new clean energy and ending dependence on fossil fuel.
Over 100 governments have “signed off line by line” on the full scientific climate assessment released just Sunday by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (UNIPCC). The report draws on more than 30,000 studies on climate science, impacts and solutions. At this point findings show, the cost of taking aggressive action to mitigate impacts and limit global warming to a level below catastrophic consequences is so minimal it would barely affect the world economy.
No action will cost much more over the long run. Business as usual runs the risk of “substantial species extinction, global and regional food insecurity, consequential constraints on common human activities, and limited potential for adaptation in some cases.” The report goes on to emphasize those conditions could make large areas of arable populated lands nearly uninhabitable for most of the year. Global warming and climate changes don’t happen over night. The problems would be irreversible for hundreds of years.
UNIPCC summary assessment:
http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar5/syr/SYR_AR5_SPM.pdf
A Final Plea:
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/11/02/3587485/climate-panel-final-plea/