Preparing for the next 911 event - climate catastrophe

[Scientists around the world are increasingly being alarmed that CO2 emissions are growing faster than the most pessimistic projections. It is likely that the planet will see a 4C temperature rise which will cause major social and economic disruptions. Unfortunately the public and governments are not going to respond to the seriousness of this situation until we have a major climate catastrophe such as major continent wide drought, collapse of an ice shelf etc. In the event of a major climate catastrophe governments may be forced to undertake draconian steps such as shutting down all coal plants, or imposing carbon neutrality across the entire economy. Clearly this would every major implications on the economy and society. Many organizations have undertaken disaster recovery or business continuity plans to deal with terrorist attacks or natural disasters, but few have done any planning in the event of a climate catastrophe. Terrorist attacks or natural disasters tend to be local and of relatively short duration. A climate catastrophe may be global and last for decades. Are you prepared? Have you implemented network and data solutions that can survive such a long disruption? --- BSA]


My presentation to Dynamic Coalition on Internet and Climate Change (DCICC)
Preparing for the next 911- climate catastrophe
http://www.slideshare.net/bstarn/preparing-for-climate-911-event-presentation/

What are the near-term climate Pearl Harbors?
http://climateprogress.org/2008/11/24/what-are-the-near-term-climate-pearl-harbors/


Too late? Why scientists say we should expect the worst

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/dec/09/poznan-copenhagen-global-warming-targets-climate-change

At a high-level academic conference on global warming at Exeter University this summer, climate scientist Kevin Anderson stood before his expert audience and contemplated a strange feeling. He wanted to be wrong. Many of those in the room who knew what he was about to say felt the same. His conclusions had already caused a stir in scientific and political circles. Even committed green campaigners said the implications left them terrified.

Anderson, an expert at the Tyndall Centre for http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/climatechange Climate Change Research at Manchester University, was about to send the gloomiest dispatch yet from the frontline of the war against climate change.

Despite the political rhetoric, the scientific warnings, the media headlines and the corporate promises, he would say, http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/carbonemissions carbon emissions were soaring way out of control - far above even the bleak scenarios considered by last year's report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Stern review.

The battle against dangerous climate change had been lost, and the world needed to prepare for things to get very, very bad.

At 650ppm, the same fuzzy science says the world would face a catastrophic 4C average rise. And even that bleak future, Anderson said, could only be achieved if rich countries adopted "draconian emission reductions within a decade". Only an unprecedented "planned economic recession"
might be enough. The current financial woes would not come close.

Anderson is not the only expert to voice concerns that current targets are hopelessly optimistic. Many scientists, politicians and campaigners privately admit that 2C is a lost cause. Bob Watson, chief scientist at the Environment Department and a former head of the IPCC, warned this year that the world needed to prepare for a 4C rise, which would wipe out hundreds of species, bring extreme food and water shortages in vulnerable countries and cause floods that would displace hundreds of millions of people. Warming would be much more severe towards the poles, which could accelerate melting of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets.