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7 Tipping Points That Could Transform Earth

Submitted by glenshewchuck on
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When the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued its last report in 2007, environmental tipping points were a footnote. A troubling footnote, to be sure, but the science was relatively new and unsettled. Straightforward global warming was enough to worry about. But when the IPCC meets in 2014, tipping points — or tipping elements, in academic vernacular — will get much more attention. Scientists still disagree about which planetary systems are extra-sensitive to climate shifts, but the possibility can’t be ignored.

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The Copenhagen Diagnosis

Submitted by glenshewchuck on
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Authors of the landmark 2009 climate report "The Copenhagen Diagnosis" estimate that by 2020 industrial nations must reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by around 40% below 1990 levels to secure a decent chance of avoiding dangerous human interference with the climate system.

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Powering the Earth

Submitted by glenshewchuck on
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By Matt Barringer, CNN Design Ever wondered how much carbon the world emits from the power it uses? The colored circles show each region's population and their electricity consumption and carbon emissions. Use the slider at the top to see annual emissions generated from 1980 to 2007. Click on the name of the regions at the top for a closer view of the relevant figures.

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Soot Pollution Melting Glaciers

Submitted by wrscpmd on
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Soot Pollution Melting GlaciersThese glaciers are a sign of what is going into your lungs. If we replaced all the world's coal electric power plants with nukes we'd breathe cleaner air and the glaciers wouldn't lose so much ice. WASHINGTON – Black soot deposited on Tibetan glaciers has contributed significantly to the retreat of the world's largest non- polar ice masses, according to new research by scientists from NASA and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Soot absorbs incoming solar radiation and can speed glacial melting when deposited on snow in sufficient quantities.

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Climate Change Speeds Up Since 1997 Kyoto Accord

Submitted by glenshewchuck on
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As the world has talked for a dozen years about what to do next, new ship passages opened through the Arctic's once-frozen summer sea ice. In Greenland and Antarctica, ice sheets have lost trillions of tons. Mountain glaciers in Europe, South America, Asia and Africa are shrinking faster than before. By SETH BORENSTEIN, The Associated Press

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