| — | One of six major takeaways from the new report by the US Global Change Research Program. (via motherjones) |
Of all the findings in the 2012 edition of the World Energy Outlook, the one that merits the greatest international attention is the one that received the least. Even if governments take vigorous steps to curb greenhouse gas emissions, the report concluded, the continuing increase in fossil fuel consumption will result in “a long-term average global temperature increase of 3.6 degrees C.”
This should stop everyone in their tracks. Most scientists believe that an increase of 2 degrees Celsius is about all the planet can accommodate without unimaginably catastrophic consequences: sea-level increases that will wipe out many coastal cities, persistent droughts that will destroy farmland on which hundreds of millions of people depend for their survival, the collapse of vital ecosystems, and far more. An increase of 3.6 degrees C essentially suggests the end of human civilization as we know it.
Of all the findings in the 2012 edition of the World Energy Outlook, the one that merits the greatest international attention is the one that received the least. Even if governments take vigorous steps to curb greenhouse gas emissions, the report concluded, the continuing increase in fossil fuel consumption will result in “a long-term average global temperature increase of 3.6 degrees C.”
This should stop everyone in their tracks. Most scientists believe that an increase of 2 degrees Celsius is about all the planet can accommodate without unimaginably catastrophic consequences: sea-level increases that will wipe out many coastal cities, persistent droughts that will destroy farmland on which hundreds of millions of people depend for their survival, the collapse of vital ecosystems, and far more. An increase of 3.6 degrees C essentially suggests the end of human civilization as we know it.
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From a joint paper produced by the NGOs ActionAid, Germanwatch, Care International and the World Wide Fund for Nature concerning the concept of “loss and damage,” a phrase that refers to a “range of harms incurred in developing countries from the impact of climate change that cannot be avoided either through mitigation or adaptation.” |
![“Heavy rains are wreaking havoc here and our only source of livelihood, rice, is threatened. The floods have washed [it all away] and are threatening to displace us. I only managed to salvage a few bags of rice when the water subsided,” Leonard Onyango, a rice farmer, told the United Nations’ IRIN news service.
Onyango is one of thousands of farmers in western Kenya, who have watched as flood waters have washed away their rice harvest and, in some cases, their homes.
“We are estimating that some 2,000 farmers have lost their crops due to the raging floods. Much of this crop had been harvested and was still in the farms being dried,” said James Samo, agricultural specialist at Kenya’s Ministry of Agriculture.
IRIN Africa | KENYA: Rice farmers lose harvest to floods](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdiyjnbGNQ1qdtt31o1_500.jpg)
“Heavy rains are wreaking havoc here and our only source of livelihood, rice, is threatened. The floods have washed [it all away] and are threatening to displace us. I only managed to salvage a few bags of rice when the water subsided,” Leonard Onyango, a rice farmer, told the United Nations’ IRIN news service.
Onyango is one of thousands of farmers in western Kenya, who have watched as flood waters have washed away their rice harvest and, in some cases, their homes.
“We are estimating that some 2,000 farmers have lost their crops due to the raging floods. Much of this crop had been harvested and was still in the farms being dried,” said James Samo, agricultural specialist at Kenya’s Ministry of Agriculture.
