During her visit to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is continuing her efforts to cut short-lived climate pollutants (SLCP) and launching an awareness campaign to protect the Arctic. Short-lived climate pollutants are the low hanging fruit of greenhouse gas emissions. According to UNEP and the World Meteorological Organization, eradicating them with existing technologies could cut the rate of global warming in half for the next 30 to 40 years and in the Arctic by two-thirds.Clinton supports the Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants which includes methane, black carbon and hydrofluorocarbons. Secretary Clinton launched the Coalition in February and the leaders of the G8 joined in May.
Together SLCPs contribute almost half (40%) of climate warming, black carbon on its own may be responsible for half of the warming in the Arctic. By preventing SLCPs emissions can save 2.5 million lives per year, increase crop yields and food security. Climate change threatens the future of the Arctic and the globe. Without immediate and substantial mitigation efforts the polar ice will keep melting, sea levels will keep rising.
The Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme indicates that sea levels could rise 5 feet within the next century.
Perhaps most alarming is the fact that ongoing warming will release huge quantities of methane from the ocean floor, which could lead to runaway climate change.
© 2012, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.
Related Posts
G8 Agrees to Cut Short-Lived Climate Pollutants
Clinton Working to Cut Short-Lived Climate Pollutants
New Partners of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition
Six Initiatives from the Climate and Clean Air Coalition
US Secretary of State at the Green Partnership for Growth
The Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short Lived Pollutants
EPA's Carbon Pollution Standard
Primer on CO2 and Other GHGs
Global Warming Exposes Resources
Melting Arctic Ice is Releasing Massive Amounts of Methane
Natural Gas is Not Clean Energy
Reduction of Non-CO2 Emissions at COP16
0 comments:
Post a Comment