350

Carbon dioxide concentration reaches 400 ppm

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400 ppm : time to actGiven how Humankind keeps on spewing dozens of billion tonnes of carbon dioxide each year, this was expected : carbon dioxide concentration have reached 400 parts per million.

While this may sound mundane to most people, this is a real event, and one that could have dire consequences. Last time CO2 concentration were this high, temperatures were 8°C (or 14°F ) higher.

Additionally, sea level were significantly higher. Both higher temperatures and higher sea levels would be lethal threats to our civilization.

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The biggest US climate rally to date

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350.org rally in WashingtonThis Sunday took place in the United States of America the largest climate rally ever (in the country) up to 40,000 people walked peacefully, chanted and danced in Washington DC.

Other rallies were organized in many other states. All had the same message : they were asking President Obama to reject the Keystone XL pipeline and to act on climate change.

I am quite sure that this is only the beginning and that more marches with similar goals will take place in the United States and globally as climate change appears as the defining threat of our time.

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It is high time to end fossil fuels subsidies

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A thousand billion dollars, or if you prefer, a trillion dollar. This is the staggering amount of money you and I are handing out to Big Fossil fuel companies each year by the mean of governmental subsidies.

At a time of climate weirding and warming, massive pollutions of our air, water and soil, massive unemployment and of a huge debt crisis, this is more than enraging.

Even more when one knows that real solutions like renewable energies benefit from a sixth of this money. It is time to turn the situation around and end fossil fuel subsidies.

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NASA study backs 350 ppm objective

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A new study by the NASA is bringing more credence to the fact we need to go back to carbon dioxide concentration of 350 parts per million.  This will hopefully be a huge boost to the 350.org campaign. As Climate Progress reported :

” According to calculations conducted by Hansen and his colleagues, the 0.58 Watts per square meter imbalance implies that carbon dioxide levels need to be reduced to about 350 ppm to restore the energy budget to equilibrium.”

“The most recent measurements show that carbon dioxide levels are currently 392 parts per million and scientists expect that concentration to continue to rise in the future.”

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Climate change is not a technological issue

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I have been knowing it for years as I read Jean-Marc Jancovici‘s books : current technologies can solve our climate and energy issues. This is corroborated by a joint statement by eleven of the world’s largest engineering organisations. To Climate Progress : “The technology needed to cut the world’s greenhouse gas emissions by 85% by … Read more

A single solution for three problems

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Yesterday took place around the world 7,700 gatherings in over 180 countries to urge governments to embrace 350 : lowering the amount of carbon dioxide to 350 ppm (today’s levels are at 388). I already stated that we are facing a triple crisis with massive unemployment, climate change and decreasing energy supplies (peak oil and … Read more

International Day of Climate Action

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350-stickerToday is special as 350 is organizing the International Day of Climate Action. In 181 countries over 5200 events are taking place for the most widespread day of environmental action in the planet’s history.

350 is “ an international campaign dedicated to building a movement to unite the world around solutions to the climate crisis–the solutions that science and justice demand. ”

350 stands for 350parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which is considered the safe amount of CO2 to reach as today’s levels are at 390 ppm.

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2°C of temperatures increase might be too much

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Burning EearthIt is widely known and agreed upon within the scientific community and our elected representatives that Mankind has to limit the increase of temperatures to two degrees Celsius (3.6°F) by 2100 compared to 1850 levels.

However, we have recently seen that the least developed nations and many island nations in the Pacific Ocean call for more drastic climate action in order to limit the rise of temperatures to 1.5°C (2.4°F).

Since temperatures already increased by 0.6°C since the 19th century we understand how much we need decisions and measures to be taken in Copenhagen

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Time to focus on 350

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Since this is my 350th post on elrst.com, I thought it is the perfect timing to focus on the global initiative due to mitigate climate change called 350.

This number refers to the amount of carbon dioxide parts per million (PPM) we shouldn’t go over. We are currently at 387 but it is still time to reverse the trend and go back to the safe levels.

After the We and Together projects and the Défi pour la Terre, it is one more initiative. I hope all this will make people act globally on climate change mitigation.

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