Total decarbonization

Since I became involved with climate change more personally a couple of years ago, the news has been getting worse and worse.  A few months ago, it occurred to me that we would eventually be asked, not to drop to 40% of our emissions, nor 20% nor even 5%, but that a completely emissions-free future would be required.  I based this on the fact that a number of areas that had previously stored carbon were now releasing it with warmer temperatures, so we couldn’t rely on the Earth to absorb any more of our carbon at all.

Today, courtesy of the Young Greens site, I was referred to an article by George Monbiot, a British journalist who has made telling the unpleasant truth about climate change his mission.  Looking at the numbers, he advocates complete decarbonization immediately.  He says a wartime economy will be necessary.

A few posts back, I mused about the sense of meeting our Kyoto targets.  I was becoming convinced that they were simply too difficult to meet.  I’m once again thinking we need to meet them anyway.  Because  Monbiot is careful and ahead of the curve.  And if he’s correct, the reduction rates that Kyoto would demand would pretty much be what we’d have to do now anyway.  And 5 years from now, whatever the pain we will have gone through, we’ll be happier when we realize the even greater pain we’ve avoided.