Are you Ready for the Sustainability and Greentech Revolutions? Climate Crisis Facts and Dangers

Let’s cut to the heart of the matter…

http://www.global-mindshift.org/memes/wombat.swf

Global WarmingFacts, Data and Consequences

Some Facts

• Human population x 4 in 100 years• It took 10000 generations of human beings to

reach 2 B• We have tripled that in less that one lifetime

Some Facts

• A crisis in the relationship between human civilization and planet earth.

• Through the emission of Green House Gases we are creating Global Warming .

• The principles are quite simple :

A reality in pictures

• If a picture is worth a thousand words …

• Before the warming: Glacier National Park, USA 1932

• After the warming: Glacier National Park, USA 1988

A reality in pictures

• Before the warming: Peru, 1980

• After the warming: Peru, 2002

A reality in picture

• Before the warming: Kilimanjaro, 1970

• After the warming: Kilimanjaro, 2000

A reality in pictures

• Before the warming: Nepal, 1978

• After the warming: Nepal, 2004

A reality in pictures

• Even more obvious from space, this pictures of the North Polar cap from NASA show a melting of 25% in 25 years:

Some unequivocal data

• At the end of 2002, the concentration of carbon dioxide was just above 370ppm.

• This is probably the highest in at least 400,000 years

Some unequivocal data

• The Human Effect

Some unequivocal Data

• The number of category 4 and 5 hurricanes has almost doubled in the last 30 years.2

• Malaria has spread to higher altitudes in places like the Colombian Andes, 7,000 feet above sea level.3

• The flow of ice from glaciers in Greenland has more than doubled over the past decade.4

• At least 279 species of plants and animals are already responding to global warming, moving closer to the poles.5

Some unequivocal Data

• Every country bears its share of responsibility, The USA being number one.

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are needed to see this picture.

Source: Footprint Network

No more doubts

• The International scientific community now unequivocally admits that humanity is very likely to be responsible for Global warming 1.

• The Last report of the UN was produced by some 600 authors from 40 countries. Representatives from 113 governments reviewed and revised the Summary line-by-line before adopting it and accepting the underlying report in Paris, February 2, 2007.

The Consequences of sticking to ‘Business As Usual”

• Global sea levels could rise by more than 20 feet with the loss of shelf ice in Greenland and Antarctica, devastating coastal areas worldwide.7.

• The arctic ocean could be ice free in summer by 2050.8.

• Heat waves will be more frequent and more intense.

• Droughts and wildfires will occur more often.

The Consequences of sticking to ‘Business As Usual”

• More than a million species worldwide could be driven to extinction by 2050 and half of all species of life on Earth could be extinct within a 100 years . (today 12% of the birds, 25% of the mammals,32% of the amphibians are directly threatened) 9.

• Coral Reefs: Warmer oceans and increased UV radiation contribute to massive coral reef die-offs.

• Fishing: 90% of the large fish in the world’s ocean are already gone (Nature Magazine)

• Dead zones: low-oxygen areas in the world’s ocean support no marine life. 146 dead zones in the world’s oceans (UN Environment Programme, 2004)

• The income gap between the richest and poorest people on Earth is likely to continue to increase due to the depletion of natural resources.

The Consequences of sticking to ‘Business As Usual”

• The Stern Report 10 :

“Our actions over the coming few decades could create risks of major disruption to economic and social activity, later in this century and in the next, on a scale similar to those associated with the great wars and the economic depression of the first half of the 20th century.”

“One percent of global GDP is required to be invested a year in order to mitigate the effects of climate change, and that failure to do so could risk global GDP being up to twenty percent lower than it otherwise might be”

We cannot let this happen!

• It is a human reaction to turn to defeatism in front of such a huge issue but this is where we need to show determination.

• Collectively, we have the power to shape events and the global economy.

• We owe it to ourselves, our families, our companies and the world.

• This is no time for small change this is time for a global revolution

• Here in Silicon Valley we have much to contribute.

Sources• 1 according to the intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC), this era

of global warming "is unlikely to be entirely natural in origin" and "the balance of evidence suggests a discernible human influence of the global climate."2 Emanuel, K. 2005. Increasing destructiveness of tropical cyclones over the past 30 years. Nature 436: 686-688.3 world health organization4 Krabill, W., E. Hanna, P. Huybrechts, W. Abdalati, J. Cappelen, B. Csatho, E. Frefick, S. Manizade, C. Martin, J, Sonntag, R. Swift, R. Thomas and J. Yungel. 2004. Greenland ice sheet: increased coastal thinning. Geophysical research letters 31.5 nature.6 world health organization7 Washington post, "debate on climate shifts to issue of irreparable change," Juliet Eilperin, January 29, 2006, page A1.8 arctic climate impact assessment. 2004. Impacts of a warming arctic. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge university press. Also quoted in time magazine, vicious cycles, missy Adams, march 26, 2006.9 time magazine, feeling the heat, David Bjerklie, march 26, 2006. 10 The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, is a 700-page report released on October 30, 2006 by economist Sir Nicholas Stern for the British Government, which discusses the effect of climate change and global warming on the world economy.