G8 Leaders Agree to Maybe Later on Agree to Do Something Down the Road to Start Stopping Global Warming

The G8, responsible for 62% of the atmospheric C02 causing global warming, has agreed to "seriously consider" a cut of 50% on emissions by 2050. Last year, the conversation was a cut of 50% from 1990 levels, so this vague, gaseous promise is actually a step backwards. They are refusing to even set any interim goals for 2020, when the cuts might, you know, actually help. As many leading climate scientists see us heading rapidly towards a tipping point on global warming, there's a good chance that 2050 is an irrelevant target. Feedback loops like melted ice caps and thawed permafrost releasing methane may have taken over and made our own emissions irrelevant. There's not way to be certain what the tipping point for a system as complex as the earth's weather system will be. But with the consequences crossing such a tipping point is likely to bring—including mass extinctions, extreme weather, lost coastlines, and upwards of a billion climate refugees—we can't afford to play chicken climate change.

If you haven't yet, go read the recent congressional testimony of James Hansen, the climatologist who first brought global warming to national attention in front of congress 20 years ago. Sobering stuff, but also clear ways to address the problem.

The Guardian has a decent round up on the G8 pledges. There's a video with some environmentalist responses.