Environmental and Natural Resources Law

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SCIENCE

CLIMATE CHANGE INITIATIVE

"[W]e have at most ten years- not ten years to decide upon action, but ten years to alter fundamentally the trajectory of global greenhouse emissions." James Hansen- "The Threat To The Planet"

Science

Human activities emit large amounts of heat-trapping gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, into the atmosphere, causing global warming. Fossil fuel use is the main source of these gases. Since pre-industrial times, carbon dioxide has climbed to a present level exceeding any in the past 650,000 years. Carbon dioxide lingers in the atmosphere for centuries. As a result of rising temperatures, the Polar ice cap, Greenland, and nearly all glaciers in the world are melting. While it is too late to avoid the damage already underway as a result of past carbon emissions, most scientists believe that we can still thwart planet-altering levels of global warming by curbing our greenhouse gas emissions. The mandate is two-fold: 1) reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80% below 1990 levels by 2050; and 2) reverse the trajectory of greenhouse gas emissions in the short term (no later than 10 years from now).

Scientific Papers

James Hansen, The Threat to the Planet, THE NEW YORK REVIEW, July 13, 2006. (Hansen, the leading climate scientist for NASA, warns that, if existing increases of carbon emissions (2% a year) continue for even another decade, temperatures will rise five degrees Fahrenheit during this century, which in turn could cause an 80-foot rise in sea level: "In that case, the United States would lost most East Coast cities: Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, and Miami; indeed, practically the entire state of Florida would be under water. Fifty million people in the US live below that sea level. . . ." Id at 13.).

Pew Center on Global Climate Change, Fact Sheet

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Climate Change 2007:
The Physical Science Basis, Summary for Policymakers
Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage
Safeguarding the Ozone Layer and the Global Climate System

Pew Center on Global Climate Change, Climate Change 101: The Science and Impacts

Tom M. L. Wigley, National Center for Atmospheric Research, The Science of Climate Change: Global and U.S. Perspectives

Arctic

Pew Center on Global Climate Change, Fact Sheet

Arctic Climate Impact Assessment
Full report or Overview report downloadable at: http://amap.no/acia/

Sea Level Rise

Pew Center on Global Climate Change, Fact Sheet

Environmental Protection Agency, Sea Level Rise Publications

Weather

Pew Center on Global Climate Change, Fact Sheet

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