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- Global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) have
increased by almost 50 per cent since 1990
- Emissions grew more quickly between 2000 and 2010
than in each of the three previous decades (!!)
http://co2now.org/
CO2 emissions in Austria
- It is not (just) China: in Austria the traffic
related CO2 emissions went up by 60% between 1990
and 2010!
- " Die THG (Treibhausgas)
Emissionen Österreicht betrugen im Jahr 2010 in
Summe etwa 9.7 t CO2-Äquivalent pro Kopf. [...]
Bezieht man auch die durch österreichischen Konsum
im Ausland verursachten CO2-Emissionen mit ein, so
liegen die Emissionswerte für Österreich um etwa die
Hälfte höher." (Klimabericht AAR14; Bemerkung: beim
aktuellen Stand der Weltbevölkerung sind ca. 3
t/Jahr nachhaltig vertretbar.)
- The eventual temperature development will strongly
depend on our political decisions over the next 15
years. But based on the recent increases (!) in CO2
output, currently the most likely scenario is - in
my personal opinion, based on the scientific data -
a gobal temperature rise of about 3.5 deg C. IPCC
AR5.
- For Austria a temperature increase between 3.5 and
5.5 deg C is to be expected (AAR14, p. 30)
- 1.7 billion people rely directly on fossil aquifiers
(i.e. groundwater that is not replenished), and each
and every one of these aquifiers is facing a looming
water crisis. For example, not a single drop of the
mighty Colorado River reaches the Pacific any more,
because everything is used up in its course.
- Last year, Upper Austria lost >20'000'000 EUR,
because of lower than usual water levels in the
rivers.
- Already, nuclear power plants had to be shut down
because of lack of cooling water (Millstone, USA)
- Newfoundland's offshore cod stocks are at one per
cent of what they were in 1977.
- British fish stocks have dropped by 94 percent in
the past 118 years and commercial fishing has
profoundly changed seabed ecosystems, leading to a
collapse in numbers of many species.
- Most of the world's major fishery species have been
reduced in numbers by 75 to 95 percent or more ("The
Ocean of Life", p50).
- Two thirds of the species we have fished since the
1950s have experineced collapse, and the rate is
accelerating (FAO).
- Tuna: 1940 - 300'000t; now: 4'000'000t Five of the
world’s eight tuna species are already classified as
threatened or nearly threatened with extinction,
according to the Red List of Threatened Species
compiled by the International Union for Conservation
of Nature (IUCN).
- Humankind now farms 38 percent of the earth's
ice-free land. Crops take up one third of that area;
pastures and rangelands for livestock cover the rest.
Little room exists for expansion because most of the
remaining land is deserts, mountains, tundra or urban.
- For every degree of global warming, most crops
(wheat, rice, corn) reduce their yield by about 10%.
- Emissions worldwide 2009: 4.49t/Person
- sustainable: 2-3t/Capita
Just start. It's quite simple:
- Avoid unnecessary trips by car or by plane.
- In winter, reduce the temperature in your home by a
few degree.
- Eat less meat.
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 Possible future scenarios:
Global CO2 emissions (top) and global warming
according to a climate scenario without
political intervention (red), and with
ambitious CO2-reduction, limiting the total
accumulated CO2 emission to 1 trillion tons of
CO2 in the first half of this century, and
essentially zero emitions after that (blue).
In the scenario with massive CO2-reduction,
the 2050 emissions are 70% below the emissions
of 1990. Without political countermeasures,
global warming will surpass 2 deg by 2050.
With massive CO2-reduction, this risk is
reduced to 25%.
.M. Meinshausen et al. (2009) (Press announcement to this
picture, in German) |
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