The Malaysian Insider :: Features
The Malaysian Insider :: Features |
| World heading for 3.5 C warming, climate talks told Posted: 07 Dec 2011 05:59 AM PST  Scientists warn 3.5 C would badly worsen droughts, flood and storms and affect sea levels, spelling famine and homelessness for tens of millions. — Reuters file pic Output of heat-trapping carbon gases is rising so fast that governments have only four years left to avert a massive extra bill for meeting the two degrees Celsius target, they said. "The current pledges are heading towards a global emissions pathway that will take warming to 3.5 C goal," according to an estimate issued by a consortium of German researchers. The world is on a "high-warming, high-cost, high-risk pathway," they said. The report, compiled by Climate Analytics and Ecofys, which are German firms that specialise in carbon data, was issued on the sidelines of the 194-nation UN talks in Durban. The 12-day conference runs until Friday. The 2 C goal, initiated at the stormy Copenhagen Summit of 2009, was enshrined at last year's conference of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) along with a less feasible target of 1.5 C. Accompanying these objectives is a roster of pledges by nation-states about what they intend to do to rein in their emissions. The promises mark the first time that all countries have been coaxed into declaring specific carbon-curbing actions. But the measures are not subject to any international compliance regime and do not incur any penalties if they are not met. The report said current pledges would lead to global emissions in 2020 of 55 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) or its equivalent in 2020. This is 11 billion tonnes above the 44 billion tonnes consistent with meeting the 2 C objective smoothly. As a result, costs in energy efficiency and switching to cleaner power will rise very sharply after 2020 in order to recover lost headway. Global emissions would have to fall by 3.8 per cent annually from 2020 to 2050, using 2000 as the benchmark year per year. But this effort would be roughly halved, to two per cent, if action to brake emissions growth is initiated within the next three years to bring the tally back on line to 44 billion tonnes by 2020. The figures carried in the report concur with similar estimates, published last month by the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). Scientists caution that 2 C is no guarantee of a safe haven against climate change and consider 3.5 C to be an extremely dangerous scenario. It would badly worsen droughts, flood and storms and affect sea levels, spelling famine and homelessness for tens of millions. Already, 0.8 C of the 2 C has occurred since the start of the Industrial Revolution, when coal — followed by oil and gas — powered the rise to prosperity. — AFP/Relaxnews Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Pearl Harbour veteran recalls attack Posted: 07 Dec 2011 05:43 AM PST  The USS Nevada is aground and burning off Waipio Point, after the end of the Japanese air raid on December 7, 1941. — Reuters pic Hurrying topside, the 18-year-old seaman first-class was confronted by pandemonium — flames shooting skyward, roiling clouds of acrid smoke, swarms of fighter-bombers buzzing low overhead.  Gore is one of 100 aging Pearl Harbour survivors who will attend ceremonies today on Oahu marking the 70th anniversary of the Japanese air and naval assault. — Reuters pic "We didn't know (at first) those were Japanese planes," Gore, now 88, said. "We didn't know what was happening. I just did my job." He is one of 100 Pearl Harbour survivors who will attend ceremonies today on Oahu marking the 70th anniversary of the Japanese assault that claimed 2,390 US lives and drew the US into World War Two. Nearly half of those who perished were sailors aboard the battleship USS Arizona, which Japanese torpedo bombers sank early in the attack, killing 1,177 of its 1,400-member crew. Seven of the last known 18 survivors from Arizona's crew are expected to attend the anniversary ceremonies. Gore's vessel, the Phoenix, was anchored a short distance from the stretch of harbour known as Battleship Row, where the Arizona was moored when it was hit. "I'll never forget watching the ... USS Arizona battleship jumping up out of the water, landing and rolling on its side," Gore said. "There were bodies everywhere." Long after the two-hour surprise attack had ended, he said the base remained on edge.  An aerial view of "Battleship Row" at Pearl Harbour, photographed from a Japanese aircraft, on December 7, 1941. — Reuters pic The Phoenix was among a handful of vessels that emerged unscathed from the attack that left 1,178 people wounded, sank or heavily damaged a dozen US warships and destroyed 323 aircraft. Veterans, relatives and dignitaries will observe a moment of silence today at the time when the attack began, as military jets soar overhead. The morning service will end with a "walk of honour" by more than 100 Pearl Harbour Survivors and other World War Two veterans. The turnout of Pearl Harbour veterans is expected to be about half of what it was last year. Mal Middlesworth, former president of the National Pearl Harbour Survivors Association and publisher of the Pearl Gram newsletter, estimates there are about 2,700 Pearl Harbour veterans still alive. For Gore, of Seattle, this week marks his first visit to Hawaii since the 1960s. He remained in the Navy for 30 years. "I'm grateful to still be alive. So many lost their lives for no reason," he said. — Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
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