Washington
Post: The task of cutting greenhouse gas emissions enough
to avert a dangerous rise in global temperatures may be far
more difficult than previous research suggested, say scientists
who have just published studies indicating that it would
require the world to cease carbon emissions altogether within a
matter of decades.Their findings, published in separate
journals over the past few weeks, suggest that both
industrialized and developing nations must wean themselves off
fossil fuels by as early as mid-century in order to prevent
warming that could change precipitation patterns and dry up
sources of water worldwide.Using advanced computer models to
factor in deep-sea warming and other aspects of the carbon
cycle that naturally creates and removes carbon dioxide (CO2),
the scientists, from countries including the United States,
Canada and Germany, are delivering a simple message: The world
must bring carbon emissions down to near zero to keep
temperatures from rising further.
