Opinion: Carbon fee would put the brakes on global warming before it's too late
The year 2012 saw more than 34,000 U.S. heat records shattered, violent western wildfires, widespread drought, record melting of Arctic ice and many devastating storms — all consequences of a rise in global heat of less than 1 degree Celsius over the past 100 years.
One degree. It sounds like so little — yet, suddenly, we are caught up in a major emergency. Suddenly, the Earth is embraced by an atmosphere laden with nearly 400 parts per million of carbon dioxide (CO2), a concentration higher than at any time during the last 800,000 years. The result is a maelstrom of disruptions of the global climate that threaten the stability of every human civilization and natural ecosystem, as well as enormous damage costs.
Climate scientists predicted the oceans would warm and turn acidic, polar ice and permafrost would melt, sea levels would rise and extreme weather events would become ever more violent and frequent. But no one foresaw how rapidly these changes would take place.
Participants at international conferences over the last 10 years agreed that, to avert catastrophe, we must keep the planet’s temperature from rising more than two degrees Celsius, but now we realize that two degrees was too high a limit. All of the science done in the last 15 years has shown that the predicted changes are happening at lower temperatures. The climate is more sensitive than anyone realized and the real threshold of safety is 1.5 degrees Celsius, which is no longer attainable.
We also failed to appreciate the long delay before the planet’s temperature responds to a rise in atmospheric CO2. It is the CO2 accumulated during the last half-century that is causing the planetary fever we are now experiencing. The CO2 we are now accumulating will produce a further rise over the next half-century. Many more destructive impacts of global climate change are in the pipeline and will be delivered in the future.
Even if we halted our emissions tomorrow (and we can’t), the warming to which we are already committed would precipitate at least a three-degree rise. If we do nothing, we are on track for at least a six-degree rise within this century — with unthinkable results.
No question, then: We must take serious action — fast. And we can, thanks to the widespread belief among Americans that we must. The president is willing to lead. Gov. Christie will doubtless also lead, because he knows firsthand the price we pay for violent weather.
http://www.nj.com/times-opinion/inde...uld_put_b.html