Nature News
Gore calls for urgent action to tackle global warming
Oct 23, 2007, 19:36 GMT
Former U.S. Vice President and winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, Al Gore, speaks during a climate congress in Berlin, Germany, 23 October 2007. In the background the text reads: \'Energy needs impulses.\' EPA/JOHANNES EISELE COLOR
Berlin - Climate crusader Al Gore appealed to world leaders Tuesday to hold an emergency session at the United Nations in early 2008 to tackle global warming.
The meeting should review decisions taken at the December conference in Bali on a climate framework to replace the Kyoto accords, the former US vice president said in Berlin.
The Nobel Peace laureate suggested the leaders meet every three months until a new treaty is ready to come into force by 2010 - two years before the Kyoto protocols on greenhouse gas emissions run out.
This would be the best way to get the world's two biggest polluters - the United States and China - to join, he said. Neither is effectively bound by Kyoto, but 'are more like to join a new treaty one that will be negotiated in Bali.'
'It's not politics or ideology,' he told a climate conference sponsored by German energy provider EnBW. 'It's a moral issue.'
Journalists were allowed to report on Gore's speech but had to sign an undertaking they would not publish details of the presentation of his work An Inconvenient Truth later in evening.
The German Journalists Association DJV protested against the restrictions. Gore said he would donate his fee - around 200,000 dollars according to media reports - to a non-profit foundations that seeks to increase understanding of global warming.
It was Gore's first trip to Europe since being awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize earlier this month together with the UN's climate body IPCC, for increasing awareness of man-made global warning.
In an impassioned speech, Gore painted a gloomy picture of a planet where 70 million tons of global warming pollution is being pumped into atmosphere every day.
'The North Polar ice cap is now beginning to melt more rapidly,' he said. New data showed 'the melting is now so rapid the scientists tell us the North Polar icecap ... could be completely gone in the next 24 years.'
'We must open our eyes and open our hearts and open our minds,' he said, calling for 'a shared public vision that what we have to do matters.'
The world, he said, should stop focusing on short-term considerations and learn 'that we should no longer treat the atmosphere of our planet as if it is an open sewer.'
Earlier, Gore described global warming as 'the most dangerous crisis' humankind has ever faced, but said it also presented an opportunity.
'I am convinced the world will see a great change in the way in which we combat this crisis,' he said ahead of a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told the conference that action was needed to ensure that global warming did not trigger new conflicts.
'We must take steps to avert a Cold War on the North Pole,' the minister said in reference to the scramble by Russia and other states to claim the region's vast energy reserves.
Such claims had to be decided under the aspects of international law, the minister said. 'We have to realize that here we can only win together or lose together,' he added.
Russia made claims to the Arctic early August when a research submarine planted a Russian flag on the floor of the Arctic Ocean. The move triggered counter-claims by Canada, Denmark and other states bordering the resource-rich territory.
The conference took place amid a new report that the Earth's atmosphere is accumulating carbon dioxide much faster than expected, and the planet's oceans and trees are also not absorbing as much CO2 as they used to.
The report to the National Academy of Sciences said the growth rate of atmospheric CO2 is 'increasing rapidly.'
Gore, who served as US vice president under Bill Clinton from 1993-2001, has arguably become the most prominent activist against global warming.
His smash hit climate documentary An Inconvenient Truth won an Oscar this year and led to calls for him to run again for president in 2008 after losing the disputed 2000 vote to George W Bush.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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We as responsible humans need to do our part. If all of us would just stand outside and blow toward the sun for one hour a day, I think that would do it. Don't count me in on this though, I'm buying blowing credits...well maybe not buying but selling blowing credits. I guess you can just 'Call Me Irresponsible' or you can say I'm unreliable and throw in undependable too... Oh hell, life is just a musical right....Al?
The idiot neocon posters have finally admitted to the reality of climate change ,only to tell us now that there is nothing we can do about it .Correction,there is nothing THEY want to do about it .At this very moment,when 4 percent of California is already consumed by flames ,they tell us nothing can be done .No doubt they are the ignorant followers of BUsh and carefully step in his tracks,first denying the facts,only to tell us there is no state of urgency as the flames start to ignite around them .Just google forrest fires and climate change and you will find plenty of evidence these events were foreseen in the past by the climatologists .
And of course something can be done about it ,but not by the same lame ignorants that are attacking Al Gore for delivering the message .
Those climatologists were 'predicting' devastating hurricanes for the last two years and nothing. They had to attach themselves to these fires in California to cover their A##s. The reason for the disastrous effects of these fires is occurring because the dumba## environmentalist who would not allow for controlled burning in the past...yes you can lay this at their feet. And Yes, there is a plethora of top scientists that don't believe in AGW About half of the scientist came away from the IPCC disappointed in the politics that infiltrated the science. And remember if Tony from Belgium calls you a neocon, that's a GOOD thing.
Global warming alarmists who claim that climate change will have serious effects on life are skating on thin ice, a top scientist says.
Writing in The Wall Street Journal Wednesday, professor Daniel Botkin, president of the Center for the Study of the Environment and professor emeritus in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology at the University of California, Santa Barbara says that contrary to the latest news, the evidence that global warming will have serous effects on life is thin.
As reported by the National Center for Policy Analysis Botkin revealed that:
This year's United Nations report on climate change and other documents say that 20 percent to 30 percent of plant and animal species will be threatened with extinction in this century due to global warming — a truly terrifying thought.
Yet, during the past 2.5 million years, a period that scientists now know experienced climatic changes as rapid and as warm as modern climatological models suggest will happen to us, almost none of the millions of species on Earth went extinct.
The exceptions were about 20 species of large mammals (the famous megafauna of the last ice age — saber-tooth tigers, hairy mammoths and the like), which went extinct about 10,000 to 5,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age, and many dominant trees and shrubs of northwestern Europe.
But elsewhere, including North America, few plant species went extinct, and few mammals.
Wrote Botkin, 'We're also warned that tropical diseases are going to spread, and that we can expect malaria and encephalitis epidemics, But scientific papers by professor Sarah Randolph of Oxford University show that temperature changes do not correlate well with changes in the distribution or frequency of these diseases; warming has not broadened their distribution and is highly unlikely to do so in the future, global warming or not.'
You'll always find some stray scientist with a different opinion .Pick your choice ,there is plenty ;just as their is plenty of neocon morons and republicans denying the earth is more than 6000 years old ,they'll even provide scientific arguments to demonstrate it .I guess it all boils down to your own intelligence to differentiate .The fires in California,the drought in the Midwest,lakes emptying themselves,the arctic ice disappearing very fast,gletschers melting,the great lakes also in peril;some people are just not inclined to accept what is apparent to others .I guess some of you believe Iran is a threat to us all and climate change is just a hobby for the international community of climatologists and other scientist ,and of course it is so much easier to pretend nothing is happening and if we close our eyes,it will all go away .Let us take this attitude towards George Bush 's vision of world affairs ,at least it helps cure paranoia.
What has happened when the earth has warmed in the past, What has happened to Glaciers?...Why would you believe and have faith in AL Gore but not God or History?...Why do you post that you are from Belgium?
Giegengack has described Al Gore's documentary as 'a political statement timed to present him as a presidential candidate in 2008.' And added, 'The glossy production is replete with inaccuracies and misrepresentations, and appeals to public fear as shamelessly as any other political statement that hopes to unite the public behind a particular ideology.'
The Earth has been warming, says Giegengack, for about 20,000 years. We've only been collecting data on that trend for about 200 years. 'For most of Earth history,' he says, 'the globe has been warmer than it has been for the last 200 years. It has only rarely been cooler.' Those cooler periods have meant things like two miles of ice piled over much of what is now North America. Nothing to be nostalgic for.
'Sea level is rising,' Giegengack agrees. But, he explains, it's been rising ever since warming set in 18,000 years ago. The rate of rise has been pretty slow — only about 400 feet so far. And recently — meaning in the thousands of years — the rate has slowed even more. The Earth's global ocean level is only going up 1.8 millimeters per year. That's less than the thickness of one nickel. For the catastrophe of flooded cities and millions of refugees that Gore envisions, sea levels would have to rise about 20 feet.
'At the present rate of sea-level rise,' Gieg says, 'it's going to take 3,500 years to get up there.
'...we are building a religion....we are building it bigger...' - Cake
'Al Gore...a guy who can tell you the exact co2 content in th air, but is befuddled by vote counts in Florida...' - Dennis Miller
Why dont you man up and tell us what country your from?...It really wouldn't matter except you are always bashing the USA. Come on tell us
And again you even wrong with your grammar, Typical liberal- symbolism over substance.
es Tonni work for Monsters?...Ya know get ya riled up, no one is this stupid...And the Belgium part, Why would you mention that?...If you google tonni from Belgium you can see how idiotic the posts are...No knowledge of history and fake USA hate...But belives Al Gore like Good...Your right SP-4 its a religion for these lost souls.Pete is Tonni.
I suspect Tonni has a far better grasp of history than the average American. After all, you Yanks have only been around for a very few centuries, and think a house built in the 1800s is old. Europe ia littered with houses built in the 1200s onwards. Go to other parts of the world and you will find civilisations dating back thousands of years.
America is at the nappy (sorry 'diapers' in American English) stage of evolution in a world full of grown ups
According to NASA sea levels rose one inch from 1945-95 .The next inch came between 1995-2005 and the latest satelite measurements mean that the oceans are rising one inch every 7 years. Because the process is accelarating this means that they will probably rise around one inch every 6 years. This is about double the figure quoted in a previous post.
Sea levels are now rising faster than they have ever risen in recorded history.
I just wish to meet some intelligent opponents that will come forwards with arguments to prove me wrong....Zilch,nothing except ignorants relying on their own blind belief and calling the peer reviewed scientific work of thousands of scientists a religion .To me it request more of a leap of faith to believe it is NOT true.Every observation not only confirms the findings but shows the phenomena to be even worse .Fresh review of the ocean by 300 vessels equipped with oceanographic instruments indicate that the ocean,which was until now believed to absorb carbon dioxide,is saturated .Consequence is 33 percent more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than previously calculated .very bad news .
As for the argument that Al Gore is only in it to fortify an eventual ambition as president of the USA,so ridiculous and abject character assassination can only emanate from the usual republican or neocon simpletons .That kind of argumentation is no more of the measure of stupidity of those that use it .Is this realy the best you have to offer .Fine,you are a very fast dwindling species ,obsolete after the next presidential elections .The predicted fires in California will eventualy ring the alarm bell to those that are less easily fooled by the neocons and the White House .
Why are blatant adverts like the Giacom one above allowed on this site ?
Some known facts first:
1. our total atmosphere weighs approximately 5,300,000,000 Gt*
2. the total CO2 in it weighs approximately 3,000,000 Gt
3. man-made CO2 weights approximately 870,000 Gt (29%)
If we scale our total atmosphere at 100mm high (graphic on left)
then the CO2 in it is 0.0566mm high - quite invisible!
so let’s increase the scale by a factor of 10: go here.
*Gt stands for Gigaton, which is 1,000 million tons
and 1 ton is 1,000kg (2,240lbs).
Calculations based on information from the Royal Dutch Meteorological Institute (KNMI) in De Bilt, Holland.
Still with us?
This scale is 10 times the previous one
1,000mm in height
now scroll down for a bit . . . .
quite a bit in fact!
Welcome to the bit that all the fuss is about . . .
Total atmosphere = 1000mm, total CO2 = 0,566mm.
This can still barely be shown at this scale, but it is visible.
Man-made emissions are still not visible though.
To see the proportion of man-made emissions a little better, we need to blow up the scale by a further factor of 10.
So now, total CO2 is 5.66mm high (red) and
man-made emissions are 1.58mm high (yellow, 28%)
Can anybody explain to me how such an insignificant quantity of substance can possible heat up the entire column of air? All arguments are more than welcome!
Since you are so knowledgeable about Euro History, What was the average temp before the little Ice Age began?...Exactly 3-4 degrees warmer than now...And what happened? man flourished...exactly and then cold weather killed 1/3rd of the population...exactly. Its so sad that all you can do is bash the USA but be so balless and not be honest about who you are and where you are from. More sad that you believe whatever comes down the pike, especially when you see ow science beliefs change over time.
When quoting temperatures from the past we can only rely on the last 200 years. To quote temperatures that were 3-4 degrees higher than they are now is purely guesswork and regional variations can differ enormously. As an example the average world temperature has risen by 0.7 of a degree and yet the Antarctic peninsula has risen by 10x that ammount.
Before 'Hey Tonni,.... etc' gets too excited about his revelation to an eagerly waiting world that temperatures pre-Little Ice Age were comparable or higher than today, perhaps he should do a little more research -
'The Medieval Warm Period was a time of warm weather around 800-1300 AD, during the European Medieval period. Initial research on the MWP and the following Little Ice Age (LIA) was largely done in Europe, where the phenomenon was most obvious and clearly documented.
It was initially believed that the temperature changes were global. However, this view has been questioned; the 2001 IPCC report summarises this research, saying '…current evidence does not support globally synchronous periods of anomalous cold or warmth over this time frame, and the conventional terms of 'Little Ice Age' and 'Medieval Warm Period' appear to have limited utility in describing trends in hemispheric or global mean temperature changes in past centuries'. NOAA states that the 'idea of a global or hemispheric 'Medieval Warm Period' that was warmer than today however, has turned out to be incorrect' and that those 'records that do exist show is that there was no multi-century periods when global or hemispheric temperatures were the same or warmer than in the 20th century'.
And of course, if he wants to trot out the old fallacy about Greenland being warm and cultivated - take note that this was largely a 'spin' put on a warmish coastline to try and attract settlers from Denmark - the interior was just as cold, if not colder, than recent time (before the warming started)
Try to take a world view about Global Warming - not pick a few misunderstood bits of data to try and support your flagging case for opposition
The U.N. has always welcomed frauds and charlatans such as Gore.
Remember the lying scum from Iraq that swore that there were weapons of mass destruction in their own back yards and that the needed a rich western country to give them santuary because they and their families and their friends and everyone in their zip code, and their seventy-six virgins in their paradise would be beheaded if they returned to their ancestral home ever again.
But Gore has credentials which make him idol material to the likes of the U.N.; he invented the internet; he waved his hand over America and now not one household can take a healthy crap without having to flush the toilet four or five time. (that really saves alot of water in his warped mind)
Gore is a charlatan and those who listen to him and follow him are fools and doomed.
Seventy six virgins in paradise? Hell I have only seventy two to go and I have found paradise here on earth.
Didn't this Gore guy once claim to have invented the Internet? Wasn't he the asshole who said rock lyrics would warp kids brains? What makes him an expert on climate?
You look busy...I'll check back later. And, yes to Willie T., Gore DID take credit for initiating the Internet, and he got his wife to use the CongresS to attack Rock and Roll lyrics.
Now, those same folks seem to be licking his ass. How's THAT for a statement on rock star intelligence?
Too bad the posters denying the problems never stick theit nose outside
www.theage.com.au/news/world/america-battles-epic-drought/2007/10/28/11 93506341035.html
Is it so difficult to understand that your own food and watersupplies are threatened by global warming ?It seems a lot of people know nothing of the food schain .No water means no crops,no crops mean no flour,no flour means no pizza .If crops fail the price of your food will raise tenfold at first.Any idea of the consequences ?If the temperature raises above 6 degrees,no more control over anything,which means the apocalypse,is that still not clear to some ?Do you have children ???
SP4 would rather have you believe his great hero GW Bush ,univerasly known for his expertise on global warming .His knowledge of the subject is so illustrious that he had a report corrected before handing it to the Senate.THis is what one of the peers had to say about this brilliant move of SP4 hero:
news.google.be/nwshp?oe=UTF-8&hl=en&tab=wn&ncl=1122570602&topic=t&btclp =1&scoring=r
Mr. Bush is skeptical of the claims made by the libnazi arm of the divine-church-of-liberalism, and has plainly said so.
He has not actually taken a side, but does agree that global climate change is present. He is even on record saying so.
Since he is not a scientist, he is willing to keep an open mind, and acknoweledges the event, but does not rush to a conclusion.
Gee, this sounds like a pretty scientific approach, for a guy who's not a scientist. In fact it's downright conservative.
Good for him, because we've seen the scientific community's track record:
* Global cooling in 1975 - how's that coming so far? I'll bet they need a better computer program, huh?
* Spotted owl management that put thousands out of work who had reasonable health care for something that was eventually discovered to be another species naturally out-competing the other species.
* Luddite environazi federal, state and local lands management resulting in mass fires and huge destruction of habitat.
* Goofy animal and species management that has cost zillions of dollars and produced zilch.
* Luddite nuclear power policies that have exacerbated co2 output via coal as the primary power fuel.
No, Tonny, I'll take the Bush policy, thank you.
Never mind SP4 - Bush has still done well with the economy (so you say) - good to see the Dollar so strong and the oil so cheap !!
Poor SP4,no connection with reality;'Luddite environazi federal, state and local lands management resulting in mass fires and huge destruction of habitat ' I thought it would be plain simple even for a toddler to see that the California fires were caused by record temperatures and drought .Not so for SP4 blaming so called 'libnazis' action for it .Slightly out of touch with reality is the understatement of the year regarding your contributions,if I may say so ,dear friend .Ever considered seeking counseling ?I suggest you do .
Dis Gore invent the internet ?SP4 sure would like you to believe he claimed this;here is the truth about it .Just an urban legend which SP4 will not check,because a lie is more convenient for him in ,the kind of attitude and moral integrity which suites him like a glove (tongue in cheek)
Check the facts :www.snopes.com/quotes/internet.asp .Something tells me this is not the end to SP4 lies,he just will keep repeating them.
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Global warming !!!Oct 23rd, 2007 - 22:54:07
Ohhhh!! Global warming runnnn!!!! HEY !!! Get real ! You can not stop the changes any more than you can change the Earth's orbit!!
What we are doing to this planet is a direct result of mechanization an humans flourishing on this rock.
Yes things are different. Things will never be the same. Pointing it out and saying look what we're doing does no one any good.
Think of things to do to thrive and protect ourselves rather than stopping or changing nature. It cannot be done. Sooooo move on and find another topic. People die can we bring them back like on TV ? No.
See what I'm saying?
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