opinion@dailylobo.com
Three weeks ago, the climate advocacy group 350.org organized a large rally in New York City that was broadcast around the country in order to organize against the building of the Keystone XL pipeline and give the cold hard facts about climate change. A local chapter of the organization put together a live stream of this rally at UNM. Some of the main speakers at the streamed-in rally included renowned journalist and author Naomi Klein and Bill McKibben, one of the founders of 350.org.
In his talk, McKibben set out what he called global warming’s terrifying new math. The first important number he discussed was 2 degrees Celsius. Since 2009, with the Copenhagen Accord, this is the number that the world has agreed must be the limit for global temperature increase. While some say this is too small of a goal — even this slight increase is predicted to incur major climate changes and disasters — it is the limit upon which the 167 countries that signed the Copenhagen Accord agreed.
The second important number McKibben discussed was 565 gigatons.
This is the amount of carbon dioxide, or CO2, which we can release into the atmosphere while still reasonably hoping to stay within the 2 degree temperature increase limit.
The final number discussed was 2,795 gigatons. This is the amount of CO2 that would be released if all the oil and gas reserves of fossil fuel companies and fossil fuel producing nations were used.
This is more than five times the 565 gigaton limit, and this is only the fossil fuels that are in reserve; every day there are more and more efforts to search for and extract more oil and gas.
James Hansen, one of the world’s most prominent climatologists, has said that even this 2 degree limit is a “prescription for long-term disaster.” These numbers show us the hard facts of climate change and that we can no longer fool ourselves about its harsh realities.
However, the current climate summit going on in Doha, Qatar, proves that many industrialized nations, such as the United States, are not serious about the problem of climate change. The Doha summit, which ends Friday, has delegates from nearly 200 nations negotiating about the fate of our climate.
One of the issues being discussed is the continuation of the Kyoto Protocol, which binds nations to cut carbon emissions by 5.2 percent of 1990 emission levels. However, this agreement is about to run out and needs to be renegotiated. The Kyoto Protocol is very important, as it is currently the only binding agreement on carbon emissions. But many industrialized nations, including the United States and the countries of the European Union, have pushed against or tried to reduce the extension of the Kyoto Protocol.
During the conference, the United States, which did not sign onto the protocol in the first place, has pushed against extending the agreement and called instead for nonbinding voluntary cuts in carbon emissions.
As the United States is responsible for about a fifth of the world’s total carbon emissions, we need to take more serious action to prevent the encroaching disaster of climate change.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Facing this reality, we must push politicians and lawmakers to be tougher about the issue of climate change, which will greatly affect our lives and the lives of those to come.
