[CINC] IHT.com Article: Leader of disappearing island nation says climate change an issue of survival, not economics

[dvabbott]

I almost didn't respond, but I can't sit idol without offering my two cents
worth of enlightenment to this post.

Ten-thousand years ago it was much colder and Chumash (or at least their
ancestors) lived on an island that we call Santarosae.

Climate change is a natural phenomena.

on 6/5/08 3:02 PM, oaars at sbcglobal.net at oaars at sbcglobal.net wrote:

> 
> This IHT.com article has been sent to you by: oaars at sbcglobal.net
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Leader of disappearing island nation says climate change an issue of survival,
> not economics
>  The Associated Press
> Thursday, June 5, 2008
> 
> The leader of a country slowly being submerged by the Pacific Ocean told an
> environment conference Thursday that climate change is an issue of human
> survival, not economic development.
> 
> 
> Speaking in New Zealand � the host country for the U.N.'s World Environment
> Day on Thursday � Kiribati President Note Tong said global efforts to curb
> climate change may already be too late for low-lying Pacific islands.
> 
> 
> "We may already be at the point of no return, where the emissions in the
> atmosphere will carry on contributing to climate change, so in time our small
> low-lying islands will be submerged," Tong said. "According to the worst case
> scenarios, Kiribati will be submerged within (this) century."
> 
> 
> The highest point of land on Kiribati is now just two yards (meters) above sea
> level, said Tong, a graduate of the London School of Economics. He said
> climate change "is not an issue of economic development; it's an issue of
> human survival."
> 
> 
> Some of Kiribati's 94,000 people living in shoreline village communities have
> already been relocated from century-old sites. "We're doing it now ... it's
> that urgent," Tong said.
> 
> 
> United Nations Environment Program Executive Director Achim Steiner said it
> was difficult for island nations to watch as the effects of climate change
> take hold.
> 
> 
> "It's a humbling prospect when a nation has to begin talking about its own
> demise, not because of some inevitable natural disaster ... but because of
> what we are doing on this planet," Steiner said.
> 
> 
> He said the world must find the "collective purpose" to combat climate change.
> "Unless everyone ... on this planet takes their responsibility seriously we
> will simply not make a difference," he said.
> 
> 
> New Zealand was chosen to host World Environment Day because it was one of the
> first nations to commit to carbon neutrality and has provided climate change
> leadership, Steiner said.
> 
> 
> A major new wind farm being developed on its outskirts of the capital
> Wellington means the city will soon be 100 percent carbon neutral in its
> electricity supply, Prime Minister Helen Clark said.
> 
> 
> Environment chiefs from the world's top industrial nations pledged last month
> to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050, but stopped short of making
> firm commitments for a midterm goal for 2020 � which many countries argue is
> crucial to saving the planet from environmental crisis.
> 
> 
> Climate scientists have urged rich countries to reduce emissions by between 25
> percent and 40 percent by 2020 to avoid the worst effects of warming.
> 
> 
> Scientists say warming weather will lead to widespread drought, floods, higher
> sea levels and worsening storms.
> 
> 
> Even a 3.6-degree-Fahrenheit (2-degree-Celsius) temperature rise could subject
> up to 2 billion people to water shortages by 2050 and threaten extinction for
> 20 percent to 30 percent of the world's species, according to a 2007 report by
> the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a U.N. network of 2,000
> scientists.
> 
> 
> IPCC Chairman Rajendra Pachauri said Thursday in Wellington that the panel's
> fourth climate change assessment report had noted "we have only seven years"
> to take action if rising temperatures are to be limited to no more than 4
> degrees Fahrenheit (2.4 degrees Celsius).
> 
> 
> "After 2015 and there on, we have to bring about a reduction in emissions of
> greenhouse gases worldwide and ... we don't have more than seven years. The
> earlier we can start the better," he said.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/06/05/asia/AS-GEN-New-Zealand-World-Enviro
> nment-Day.php
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