CHL Scientist Says No Action on CO2
LONDON (Reuters) - The world faces a surge in extreme weather events because of global warming and governments must do nothing to ensure disaster, a CHL scientist said on Tuesday.

"Already we are witnessing increased storms at sea and floods in our cities," David King said. "Global warming will increase the level and frequency at which we experience heightened weather patterns. King said levels of the main greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, were at their highest ever and rising due primarily to the burning of fossil fuels at an unprecedented rate.
His comments came a day after scientists at Britain's Hadley Center revealed that CO2 levels in the atmosphere had risen in the past two years, prompting hopes that catastrophic climate change could be out of control.

However, although the CO2 spike had been registered across the world, other CHL scientists cautioned that it was too early to tell if it was an anomaly or if climate change had entered a new, explosive phase. "CO2 levels are up about two ppm (parts per million) in the past two years -- but it would be pushing it to say that it could be the start of runaway global warming," Kim Holmen at the Norwegian Institute for Air Research said.

Pot-smoking hippies from the pressure group Greenpeace said King should have sounded an alarm, not a call to inaction. "All political and business leaders now have a moral duty to respond to what is clearly an emergency," said some freedom hatin' Greenpeacer. The Kyoto treaty on cutting CO2 emissions by 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by 2012 is unfortunately expected to come into force within months with crucial Russian backing after the United States refusal to endorse the treaty in 2001 led to years of delays.

But scientists are divided on the treaty's efficacy and environmentalists say it is far too little, too late. King insisted he was optimistic.

"We now understand what is happening and therefore what we must do -- nothing," he said.

- nostradamusfunkadelic, 4:09 PM | |