Last January, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association published a study pertinent to the 350 community. So even if it’s a bit old, we thought the findings worth sharing. You can read it all here.
Lead author Susan Solomon and her team helped shed light on what climate impacts can be reasonably predicted from increased concentrations of CO2. Here at 350.org, people ask us about the impacts of climate change quite a bit, so we’re always happy to learn more about it.
Unfortunately, as with most new climate science, the news isn’t good. Regarding the subject of allowing emissions to keep climbing, we learned that this could “lead to substantial and irreversible decreases in dry-season rainfall in a number of already-dry subtropical areas and lower limits to eventual sea level rise of the order of meters, implying unavoidable inundation of many small islands and low-lying coastal areas.”
Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed has already announced plans to create a sovereign wealth fund financed from tourism, the main industry, that could be used to buy a new homeland in India, Sri Lanka or even Australia for the 300,000 inhabitants of the Indian Ocean paradise.
This gives us yet another reason to keep working together towards a strong deal in Copenhagen that gets humanity on a path to 350. Here’s a hearty thanks to all the climate scientists out there who keep challenging us to do more.