Download LW Global Warming Talk

Climate Threat to the Planet:*
Implications for Energy Policy
and Intergenerational Justice
Jim Hansen
December 17, 2008
Bjerknes Lecture, American Geophysical Union
San Francisco, California
*Any Policy-Related Statements are Personal Opinion
Global Warming as a Moral
Issue
L.D. Danny Harvey
Department of Geography
University of Toronto
[email protected]
GISS analysis of global surface temperature; 2008 point is 11-month mean.
Surface temperature anomaly relative to base period 1951-1980.
Left: Anomaly for 2008 meteorological year (December-November).
Right: Anomaly for first seven years of this century.
Basis of Understanding
1. Earth’s Paleoclimate History
2. On-Going Global Changes
3. Climate Models
(note: modeling #3, but aids other two)
Climate Change Depends on
(global, averaged over chaos)
1. Equilibrium Climate Sensitivity
2. Forcings: Human & Natural
3. Response Time (Ocean Inertia)
CO2, CH4 and temperature records from Antarctic ice core data
Source: Vimeux, F., K.M. Cuffey, and Jouzel, J., 2002, "New insights into Southern Hemisphere
temperature changes from Vostok ice cores using deuterium excess correction", Earth and Planetary
Science Letters, 203, 829-843.
(a) CO2, CH4 and
sea level for past
800 ky.
(b) Climate forcings
due to changes of
GHGs and ice
sheet area,
(c) Calculated
global temperature
change based on
above forcings and
climate sensitivity
¾°C per W/m2.
Observations are
Antarctic T change
divided by two.
Empirical Climate Sensitivity
3 ± 0.5C for 2XCO2
1. Includes all fast-feedbacks*
*water vapor, clouds, aerosols, surface albedo
(Note: aerosol feedback included)
2. Paleo yields precise result
3. Relevant to today’s climate
sensitivity generally depends on climate state
Climate Threat to the Planet
The Venus Syndrome
Runaway Greenhouse Effect?
1. Unprecedented Speed of +Forcing
2. Negative Feedbacks (e.g. Increased
Weathering Rate) of Little Help
3. Solar Irradiance has Increased
My Opinion:
All Coal  ?? (Runaway Possible)
Coal + Tars  !! (Dead Certainty)
United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change
Aim is to stabilize greenhouse gas emissions…
“…at a level that would prevent
dangerous anthropogenic interference
with the climate system.”
Metrics for “Dangerous” Change
Extermination of Animal & Plant Species
1. Extinction of Polar and Alpine Species
2. Unsustainable Migration Rates
Ice Sheet Disintegration: Global Sea Level
1. Long-Term Change from Paleoclimate Data
2. Ice Sheet Response Time
Regional Climate Disruptions
1. Increase of Extreme Events
2. Shifting Zones/Freshwater Shortages
Tipping Point Definitions
1. Tipping Level
- Climate forcing (greenhouse gas amount)
reaches a point such that no additional
forcing is required for large climate
change and impacts
2. Point of No Return
- Climate system reaches a point with
unstoppable irreversible climate impacts
(irreversible on a practical time scale)
Example: disintegration of large ice sheet
Sea level rise – 20 cm since 1880
Source: IPCC 2007, AR4, WG1
Sea ice extent, Sept 2005 (white) and
average extent during the 1980s (pink line)
Source: NSIDC, http://nsidc.org/news
Sea ice extent, Sept 2007
Source: National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), USA, http://nsidc.org/news
Sea ice extent, Sept 2009
Source: NSIDC, http://nsidc.org/news
Surface Melt on Greenland
Melt descending
into a moulin,
a vertical shaft
carrying water
to ice sheet base.
Source: Roger Braithwaite,
University of Manchester (UK)
Jakobshavn Ice Stream in Greenland
Discharge from major
Greenland ice streams
is accelerating markedly.
Source: Prof. Konrad Steffen,
Univ. of Colorado
Rongbuk Glacier
Rongbuk glacier in 1968 (top) and 2007. The largest glacier
on Mount Everest’s northern slopes feeds Rongbuk River.
Areas of the world dependent on winter snowfall for summer moisture:
Shown is the ratio of annual snowfall to annual runoff. The red line
outlines the areas where runoff is predominantly from snowmelt and
there is not adequate storage to buffer seasonal variations.
Source: Barnett et al (2005)
Pier on Lake Mead
Subtropics expected to expand with global warming.
Observations show 4 degrees of latitude expansion.
Fires Are Increasing World-Wide
Wildfires in Western US have increased 4-fold in 30 years.
Western US area burned
Source: Westerling et al. 2006
Stresses on Coral Reefs
Coral Reef off Fiji (Photo: Kevin Roland)
Source: Nature 442, 978-980 (2006)
Assessment of Target CO2
Phenomenon
Target CO2 (ppm)
1. Arctic Sea Ice
300-325
2. Ice Sheets/Sea Level
300-350
3. Shifting Climatic Zones
300-350
4. Alpine Water Supplies
300-350
5. Avoid Ocean Acidification
300-350
 Initial Target CO2 = 350* ppm
*assumes CH4, O3, Black Soot decrease
Target CO2:
< 350 ppm
To preserve creation, the planet
on which civilization developed
Initial Target CO2: 350 ppm
Technically Feasible
(but not if business-as-usual continues)
Quick Coal Phase-Out Critical
(long lifetime of atmospheric CO2)
(must halt construction of any new coal
plants that do not capture & store CO2)
Damage-control Scenarios
7.0
6.0
Damage-control, Unlucky Case
o
Global Average Warming ( C)
Business-as-Usual, Unlucky Case
5.0
Business-as-Usual,
Lucky Case
4.0
3.0
2.0
Observed
1.0
Damage-control,
Lucky Case
0.0
-1.0
1850
1900
1950
2000
Year
2050
2100
Figure 1.5 Business as usual Change in Global Mean Temperature in the
context of observed or inferred past variations
5
Pessimistic Projection
Optimistic Projection
o
Temperature Change ( C)
4
3
2
1
Various Inferred
Variations
Observed
0
-1
1000
1200
1400
1600
Year
1800
2000
2200
The Challenge
We can avoid destroying creation!
(+cleaner planet, + good jobs!)
We have to figure out how to live
without fossil fuels someday…
Why not now?
Carbon Tax & 100% Dividend
1. Tax Large & Growing (but get it in place!)
- tap efficiency potential & life style choices
2. Entire Tax Returned
- equal monthly deposits in bank accounts
3. Limited Government Role
- keep hands off money!
- eliminate fossil subsidies
- let marketplace choose winners
- change profit motivation of utilities
- watch U.S. modernize & emissions fall!
Intergenerational Conflict
Intergenerational inequity and injustice is the
result, affecting the young and unborn.
‘Did not know’ defense of prior generations no
longer viable.
Ethical and legal liability questions raised by
actions that deceived the public.
Continued failure of political process (not
even available to young and unborn) may
cause increasing public protests.
Major Impacts of Concern
• Sea level rise of 6-12 m over several centuries
to a 1000 years or more
• Increased occurrence of drought
• Increased water stress in vulnerable regions
• Species extinction (1/3 to ½ this century)
• Acidification of the oceans
Moral and Ethical Dimensions
• The sanctity of life
• Disproportionate impacts on the most
vulnerable (poor people) and on
developing countries – those least
responsible, and least able to adapt
• Intergenerational impacts, discounting
• Imposition of involuntary risk on others
What Will it Take?
• Stabilization of the human population at the
lowest possible level (i.e., 8 billion instead of 10
billion or more)
• An end to the growth-for-the-sake-of-growth
paradigm
• Massive emphasis on energy efficiency and
conservation (an efficiency and sufficiency ethic)
• Massive acceleration in the deployment of
renewable energy sources
Personal Decisions with Moral
Implications
• Use of energy (especially concerning
transportation, home heating and cooling,
energy-intensive conveniences)
• Levels of consumption (how much “stuff”
are you buying?)
• The amount of meat in your diet
• The levels of convenience and comfort
that you demand
Moral Behaviour is
• To be happy with less
• To consume less
• To tread as lightly as possible on the
planet
• To make “sacrifices” cheerfully (Ghandi)