www.telegraph.co.uk 29th November 2010
A series of papers published by the Royal Society has revealed that scientists believe current plans to tackle climate change are not enough. Organisations such as Oxford University and the Met Office have contributed to the publication which states that unless more drastic measures are taken global temperatures could rise as much as 4 degrees centigrade by the 2060s. This would cause catastrophic floods, drought, and mass migrations across the world. One drastic example of the severity of the situation, according to the contributors, is from Professor Kevin Anderson, Director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, who believes that the only way to reduce global emissions enough, while continuing to allow poorer nations to grow, is to stop growth in the developed world for twenty years. This would mean people in countries like the UK and USA would have to live less carbon intensive lifestyles. One way this could be achieved is by adopting a strict rationing system much like that of world war two. Electricity restrictions and less food from abroad are examples of this measure. Other authors wrote that the aim of reducing emissions by 50% relative to 1990 levels by 2050, the target the current climate summit in Cancun hopes to secure, is not enough and will not prevent temperature sensitive ecosystems such as coral reefs from being wiped out.
People from wealthy nations invest in poor countries to make a profit. As a result the poor countries grow and their standard of living rises. It makes no sense to lower a wealthy countries standard of living through world wide rules and regulations. These same rules would keep developing nations from reaching their full potential. As they approach a wealthy state, they would have to be held back to stay within the guide lines. Who would want to work that hard just to have it taken away. Likewise for those of us in a wealthy country now. We work hard and do not want to have anyone take it away as we continue to improve our lot. Washington needs to come back to reality and pass legislation that helps our economy and keeps us separate and strong.