Post by Daniel on Jan 12, 2016 19:35:31 GMT -5
Five steps Obama can take before leaving office to stave off climate disaster
By Paul Bledsoe
January 11, 2016
Recent science is finding that impacts and economic costs from climate change — heats waves, droughts, wildfires, sea-level rise, extreme precipitation, flooding, desertification, reduced crop yields and others — are certain to increase, but the worst of these impacts can be avoided if President Barack Obama takes a series of specific actions in his final year in office.
In his last State of the Union address Tuesday, expect the president to give climate change a more prominent role than ever before, in keeping with the White House view that climate has become a top tier ‘legacy’ issue for the president, and since many of Obama’s most critical climate decisions lie in the 12 months ahead. That’s particularly true because even a fully implemented Paris Agreement on climate will allow global temperatures to rise far beyond the 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit scientists regard as the upper limit for even a semblance of climatic safety.
Fortunately, the president has options to specifically limit long-term temperature increases, and markedly reduce the chances of disastrous, runaway climate impacts at home and abroad.
The most important step Obama can take to restrict near-term global temperatures is to gain agreement for the phase out the man-made refrigerant chemicals hydroflourocarbons, or HFCs, under the Montreal Protocol treaty, which has already eliminated scores of other chemicals. Critically, Obama has already gained the support of China, India and well over 100 other nations, from small island states concerned about sea-level rise to every G-20 economy, though agreement later this year will require unanimity among all 197 Protocol countries.
continue reading
blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2016/01/11/five-steps-obama-can-take-before-leaving-office-to-stave-off-climate-disaster/
By Paul Bledsoe
January 11, 2016
Recent science is finding that impacts and economic costs from climate change — heats waves, droughts, wildfires, sea-level rise, extreme precipitation, flooding, desertification, reduced crop yields and others — are certain to increase, but the worst of these impacts can be avoided if President Barack Obama takes a series of specific actions in his final year in office.
In his last State of the Union address Tuesday, expect the president to give climate change a more prominent role than ever before, in keeping with the White House view that climate has become a top tier ‘legacy’ issue for the president, and since many of Obama’s most critical climate decisions lie in the 12 months ahead. That’s particularly true because even a fully implemented Paris Agreement on climate will allow global temperatures to rise far beyond the 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit scientists regard as the upper limit for even a semblance of climatic safety.
Fortunately, the president has options to specifically limit long-term temperature increases, and markedly reduce the chances of disastrous, runaway climate impacts at home and abroad.
The most important step Obama can take to restrict near-term global temperatures is to gain agreement for the phase out the man-made refrigerant chemicals hydroflourocarbons, or HFCs, under the Montreal Protocol treaty, which has already eliminated scores of other chemicals. Critically, Obama has already gained the support of China, India and well over 100 other nations, from small island states concerned about sea-level rise to every G-20 economy, though agreement later this year will require unanimity among all 197 Protocol countries.
continue reading
blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2016/01/11/five-steps-obama-can-take-before-leaving-office-to-stave-off-climate-disaster/
!!
