Turn Down the Heat

Photo from here

A positive report that I read just today is that the World Bank has announced they will no longer be investing in coal and there is hope that this will be a trigger for things to come.

Here in Queensland there is a lot of talk about natural gas being either a replacement or a transition fuel away from coal but I am still not convinced that it is the solution, not that I have any idea what is.

This article also lead me to a very interesting report about why it is so vital that we avoid global warming titled Turn Down The Heat.  It is a long and very detailed report but I did find it really interesting.  For those who are not inclined to read it here are the concluding remarks:

A 4°C world will pose unprecedented challenges to humanity. It is clear that large regional as well as global scale damages and risks are very likely to occur well before this level of warming is reached. This report has attempted to identify the scope of these challenges driven by responses of the Earth system and various human and natural systems. Although no quantification of the full scale of human damage is yet possible, the picture that emerges challenges an often-implicit assumption that climate change will not significantly undermine economic growth.  It seems clear that climate change in a 4°C world could seriously undermine poverty alleviation in many regions. This is supported by past observations of the negative effects of climate change on economic growth in developing countries. While developed countries have been and are projected to be adversely affected by impacts resulting from climate change, adaptive capacities in developing regions are weaker. The burden of climate change in the future will very likely be borne differentially by those in regions already highly vulnerable to climate change and variability. Given that it remains uncertain whether adaptation and further progress toward development goals will be possible at this level of climate change, the projected 4°C warming simply must not be allowed to occur—the heat must be turned down. Only early, cooperative, international actions can make that happen.

It is hard for me to imagine some of the changes we will face in my life time and I hope that we are smart enough to adapt and innovate.  Sometimes I find it all a bit overwhelming but I am sure that there is hope I just hope that we have the time to make the changes required to transition to a new way of life not dependent on fossil fuels.

What do you think?  
Does the subject of climate change keep you awake at night?