Another Reason to Cut Carbon Emissions

Another sobering report on the projected effects of global warming was released this week by top climate researchers from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Switzerland and France. The scientists warn that if greenhouse gases continue rising at the current pace, it will lead to devastating long-term droughts and a sea-level rise that will persist for 1,000 years, no matter how well the world curbs future emissions of carbon dioxide.

According to the scientists, what makes carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas caused primarily by the burning of  fossil fuels, especially worrisome is that it does not dissipate quickly in the atmosphere like some other gases do. One scientist with the NOAA said, "You have to think about this stuff as more like nuclear waste than acid rain: the more we add, the worse off we'll be. The more time that we take to make decisions about carbon dioxide, the more irreversible climate change we'll be locked into." 

The study says that if carbon dioxide in the atmosphere continues to grow unchecked at the rate it is now, global sea levels will rise by the year 3000, leaving many islands and coastal regions underwater and causing droughts in southwestern North America, the Mediterranean and southern Africa as bad or worse than the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. 

While government action and regulation is required to help halt the release of carbon dioxide into the air, we can all do our part to help cut down on the amount of carbon dioxide we emit every year just by driving or leaving the lights on. To calculate your yearly personal impact, visit the carbon calculator here. And make sure to attend UK AWARE in April in London to discover ways in which you can reduce your carbon emissions!