Hansen-etal ... Get-carbon-out-of-the-atmosphere-2016
Young People’s Burden: Requirement of Negative CO2 Emissions
Abstract ... Published: 4 October 2016
The rapid rise of global temperature that began about 1975 continues at a mean rate of about
0.18°C/decade, with the current annual temperature exceeding +1.25°C relative to 1880-1920.
Global temperature has just reached a level similar to the mean level in the prior interglacial
25 (Eemian) period, when sea level was several meters higher than today, and, if it long remains at
this level, slow amplifying feedbacks will lead to greater climate change and consequences. The
growth rate of climate forcing due to human-caused greenhouse gases (GHGs) increased over
20% in the past decade mainly due to resurging growth of atmospheric CH4, thus making it
increasingly difficult to achieve targets such as limiting global warming to 1.5°C or reducing
30 atmospheric CO2 below 350 ppm. Such targets now require “negative emissions”, i.e., extraction
of CO2 from the atmosphere. If rapid phasedown of fossil fuel emissions begins soon, most of
the necessary CO2 extraction can take place via improved agricultural and forestry practices,
including reforestation and steps to improve soil fertility and increase its carbon content. In this
case, the magnitude and duration of global temperature excursion above the natural range of the
35 current interglacial (Holocene) could be limited and irreversible climate impacts could be
minimized. In contrast, continued high fossil fuel emissions by the current generation would
place a burden on young people to undertake massive technological CO2 extraction, if they are to
limit climate change. Proposed methods of extraction such as bioenergy with carbon capture and
storage (BECCS) or air capture of CO2 imply minimal estimated costs of 104-570 trillion dollars
40 this century, with large risks and uncertain feasibility. Continued high fossil fuel emissions
unarguably sentences young people to either a massive, possibly implausible cleanup or growing
deleterious climate impacts or both, scenarios that should provide both incentive and obligation
for governments to alter energy policies without further delay
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Hansen-etal Get Carbon out of the Atmosphere
'http://truevaluemetrics.org/DBpdfs/Carbon/Hansen-etal-Get-carbon-out-of-the-atmosphere-2016.pdf'
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Open PDF ... Hansen-etal-Get-carbon-out-of-the-atmosphere-2016
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CLIMATE CHANGE ... Hansen etal predictions 2015
James Hansen and many other scientists have been working on the matter of climate change for a long time. Climate change is very complicated, but the evidence is that we are facing change that has not been seen in MILLIONS of years. We are not facing a 100 year storm, but a disruption that happens only a few times in the life of the planet. This Hansen report should be a wake up call to decision makers. It further justifies the MDIA rethink of how we do metrics about all decision making and the accounting for risk. ...
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RISK-p3-14 ... Some highlights from the Hansen etal report of 2015
SLIDESHARE: risk-p314-climate-change-hansen-et-al-predictions-2015-150814
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Open in slideshare
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