[Sustain] New Spike In GHG Emissions Puts Earth On Brink Of Uncontrollable Climate Disaster

[Eric Brooks]

            Unexpected New Spike In Greenhouse Gas Emissions Puts Earth
            On Brink Of Uncontrollable Climate Disaster

http://www.thejournal.ie/iea-estimates-make-2010-carbon-emissions-the-highest-in-history-145971-May2011/


    IEA estimates make 2010 carbon emissions 'the highest in history'

EARTH'S CARBON EMISSIONS for 2010 were the highest they have ever been, 
according to new international estimates -- potentially setting off a 
chain of global warming that cannot be stopped.

Earth's emissions of carbon dioxide rose to 30.6 billion tonnes last 
year, according to unpublished estimates by the International Energy 
Agency <http://www.iea.org/> (IEA) which are published in today's Guardian.

That amount is up from 29 billion tonnes last year -- despite the global 
economic downturn and action by the world's governments, both of which 
were expected to contribute to a more modest rise than the 1.6 gigatonne 
increase actually estimated.

The Guardian suggests that the scale of the increase may now make it 
almost impossible to avoid the 2°C increase in temperatures which 
scientists believe could be the tipping point for a spiral of continual 
warming that might never be broken.

"It is becoming extremely challenging to remain below 2 degrees. The 
prospect is getting bleaker. That is what the numbers say," the IEA's 
chief economist Fatih Birol told the paper.

Other economists have suggested that the current rate of growth in 
emissions means the average temperatures on Earth could increase by more 
than 4°C by 2100 -- an increase that would cause polar icecaps to melt 
significantly.

A melt of that scale would create millions of 'climate refugees' who 
would be forced to abandon their homes amid the rising sea levels. The 
first such refugees were forced to leave the Pacific island of Tuvalu in 
2007 <http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,505819,00.html>.

The level of global carbon emissions had actually fallen by 0.3 
gigatonnes between 2008 and 2009, a drop attributed to the economic 
slowdown. While the 2010 emissions were expected to rise, the scale of 
the increase is wholly unanticipated.

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