Nevertheless the climate sceptics are unfazed and essentially all governments around the world are committed to continuing to increase atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration above the present level of circa 390 parts per million (ppm) to even more dangerous levels.
In contrast, in climate criminal Australia (one of the worldâ€™s worst annual per capita greenhouse gas polluters) climate activists and leading climate scientists are calling for urgent reduction of atmospheric CO2 to 300 ppm. The Australia-based Climate Emergency Network, the Canberra Climate Action Summit (over 140 Australia-wide climate action groups), the influential Yarra Valley Climate Action Group and 300.org all say â€“ informed by the latest science from Americaâ€™s Dr James Hansen (NASA GISS), Australiaâ€™s Professor Barry Brook (climate science, University of Adelaide) and others - that for a safe and sustainable existence for all people and all species the atmospheric CO2 of our warming-threatened planet must be urgently reduced from the current circa 390 ppm to 300 ppm (click here for details and documentation).
What can a man believe? Well, just as we turn to top medical specialists for advice on life-threatening disease, so we turn to the opinions of top scientists and in particular top biological and climate scientists for climate change risk assessment and climate emergency facts and requisite actions. Further, we havenâ€™t the time or money to attend university courses on climate science â€“ but we can access publicly available lectures given by top climate scientists and analysts.
A number of readily accessed, readily scanned, easily comprehended and brilliantly illustrated climate change power point lectures are available which point to the urgent need to reduce atmospheric CO2 from the current ~390 ppm to ~300 ppm.
Thus that by NASA's Dr Hansen entitled â€œGlobal warming 20 years later: tipping points nearâ€ (2008) (address to National Press Club, and House Select Committee on Energy Independence & Global warming, Washington DC [44 pages]) spells out that 300-325 ppm atmospheric CO2 concentration is needed for restoration of sea ice, QUOTES: "Target CO2: <350 ppm To preserve creation, the planet on which civilization developed" and "Arctic Sea Ice Criterion. 1. Restore Planetary Energy Balance -> CO2: 385 ppm -> 325-355 ppm. 2. Restore Sea Ice: Aim for - 0.5 W/m2, CO2: 385 -> 300-325 ppm. Range based on uncertainty in present planetary energy imbalance (between 0.5 and 1 W/m2)".
Some of these excellent power point lectures on climate change are accessible via the links provided below. The credentials of these top scientists and analysts are given in parentheses.
1. Professor Barry Brook (Sir Hubert Wilkins Chair of Climate Change, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia), â€œMitigation and Adaptation Strategiesâ€ (2008), an outline of paleoclimate history, climatic disruption and mitigation and adaptation strategies [40 pages].
2. Dr Andrew Glikson (Earth and paleoclimate scientist, School of Archaeology and Anthropology & Research School of Earth Science, Australian National University (ANU), Canberra, Australia), "Human evolution and the atmosphere: return of the Pliocene?" (2008), illustrating the global temperature, methane and CO2 levels in the generally cooling period since the Pliocene (3 Mya, million years ago) during which time the genus Homo evolved to yield Homo sapiens (us) about 100,000 years ago. However, massive man-made greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution in the industrial era (post-1750) has pushed atmospheric CO2 concentration outside the range of 180-300 ppm obtaining during the final evolution of Homo sapiens from his immediate precursors over the last 600,000 years [46 pages].
3. Dr James Hansen (top US climate scientist; Director, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies; Adjunct Professor, Columbia University, New York; member of the prestigious US National Academy of Sciences; 2007 Award for Scientific Freedom and Responsibility of the prestigious American Association for the Advancement of Science), â€œGlobal warming 20 years later: tipping points nearâ€ (2008) - address to National Press Club, and House Select Committee on Energy Independence & Global warming, Washington DC [44 pages].
4. Dr James Hansen (top US climate scientist; Director, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies; Adjunct Professor, Columbia University, New York), â€œClimate threat to the planet. Implications for energy policy and intergenerational justiceâ€, Bjerknes Lecture, American Biophysical Union, San Francisco, California, 17 December, 2008 [39 pages]. [For a series of other incisive writings by Dr James Hansen see: http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/, most notably Dr James Hansen, â€œCarbon Tax and 100% Dividend vs. Tax and Tradeâ€, Committee on Ways & Means, US House of Representatives, February 2009].
5. Professor John Holdren (Professor of Environmental Policy and Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University; Director, Woods Hole Research Center; former president, American Association for the Advancement of Science, AAAS; President Barack Obamaâ€™s chief science adviser), â€œThe Science of Climate Disruptionâ€ (2008) â€“ a summary of the basis of man-made global warming and the climatic disruption that has already occurred [32 pages].
6. Dr Graeme Pearman (former Climate director, Australian CSIRO, Australiaâ€™s premier scientific research organization; GP Consulting; interim director, MSI; Monash University Sustainability Group), â€œClimate change: the evidence, science and current projectionsâ€ (2008) [37 pages].
7. Dr Peter Seligman (Bionic Ear engineer, Cochlear Pty Ltd and Monash University, Melbourne, Australia), â€œBang for Buck in CO2 abatementâ€ (2008) discusses where you can invest your money most effectively to reduce your Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions; some of our favourite solutions do not bear up under his analysis [43 pages].
8. David Spratt and Phillip Sutton, Climate Emergency Network, â€œA Safe Climate Futureâ€, (2008), based on the book â€œClimate Code Red. The case for emergency actionâ€ by David Spratt and Phillip Sutton (Scribe, Melbourne, 2008), a powerful summary of the latest climate science results by 2 leading non-scientist climate activists heavily informed by top climate scientists such as NASAâ€™s Dr James Hansen who indeed endorsed â€œClimate Code Redâ€ as â€œa compelling case â€¦ we face a climate emergencyâ€ [95 pages].
The brilliant power point lectures I have listed above are not only educative for climate activists â€“ they should be very useful for educating the public as a whole. Please tell everyone you can and encourage them to judge for themselves.
All of the above are referred to by me (biochemist, teacher, La Trobe University, Melbourne and U3A, Melbourne) in my â€œGlobal Warming, Climate Emergency Courseâ€ (2009) detailed course notes for an 8 x 2 hour course for the Yarra Valley University of the Third Age (U3A) on global warming, the present climatic disruption and what we can do about it [if you are in Melbourne , Australia: Semester 2, St. Andrewâ€™s Hall, Rosanna, Melbourne, Australia; 1.30-3.30 pm, each Tuesday, 7 July 2009 onwards; one semester course attendance cost A$15 for non-U3A members, A$7.50 for members of another U3A branch]. You can attend this up-to-date climate change course for FREE from the other side of the planet by simply accessing the 52 pages of carefully documented notes via this link.