An environmental double whammy from the two big papers. From the NY Times, we see how the Bush Administration spends their time silencing scientists who warn about climate change -- there's a post below on that article. Meanwhile, we learn from the Washington Post that the earth is approaching an environmental tipping point:
Now that most scientists agree human activity is causing Earth to warm, the central debate has shifted to whether climate change is progressing so rapidly that, within decades, humans may be helpless to slow or reverse the trend.Reading this article was almost like reading the script of a movie. The scientists are warning of a problem, but the bumbling politicians are in denial. Unfortunately, this isn't a movie. The Bush team continues to deny and ignore the science that shows the earth is in trouble. It is hard to believe that with all of our technological advances, we can't solve these problems. That would take leadership -- which is something we are sorely missing.
This "tipping point" scenario has begun to consume many prominent researchers in the United States and abroad, because the answer could determine how drastically countries need to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in the coming years. While scientists remain uncertain when such a point might occur, many say it is urgent that policymakers cut global carbon dioxide emissions in half over the next 50 years or risk the triggering of changes that would be irreversible.
There are three specific events that these scientists describe as especially worrisome and potentially imminent, although the time frames are a matter of dispute: widespread coral bleaching that could damage the world's fisheries within three decades; dramatic sea level rise by the end of the century that would take tens of thousands of years to reverse; and, within 200 years, a shutdown of the ocean current that moderates temperatures in northern Europe.
