Hartmann said the carbon dioxide were putting into the atmosphere now will be there for well over a century, so what we’re doing today, will have an impact for generations to come.
COURTESY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
By Kelly Snider
An increase of carbon dioxide pumped into the air means it is unlikely countries will meet the international reduction targets, according to a study.
Glen Peters, study lead author and senior researcher at the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research, in Norway, said it is not just unlikely but “rather optimistic” to think the world can limit future temperature increases to two degrees.
“To start reducing world emissions now, we need to throw everything we have at the problem,” said Peters in a report carried in the Toronto Star.
In 2011, the amount of carbon dioxide released into the air was nearly 38.2 billion tons, which is a billion tons more than the previous year, and a 3 per-cent rise, according to the recent article in the journal Nature Climate Change.
With the United Nations Climate Change conference, in Doha, Qatar, going into its second week, negotiators are currently trying to find ways to reach the two degree target.
Franz Hartmann, executive director of the Toronto Environmental Alliance told Humber News humans are the primary source of growing carbon dioxide emissions.
“Whenever we drive a car, burn gasoline, or an industry burns oil, a lot of energy is created by burning fossil fuels, which creates carbon dioxide, and that goes into the atmosphere,” said Hartmann.
Not being able to meet the 2-degree reduction is tragic, Hartmann said.
“We are in the midst of the biggest experiment ever done by humanity on our ecosystem, and we have no idea how bad it will become.”
According to the Toronto Star, Canada is number nine on the list for 2011’s biggest polluters.
Hartmann said a few weeks ago, the city of Toronto released a report detailing what our summers could look like in 2040.
“The number of heat waves will increase from the current average of one every two years to five heat waves a year,” he said.
“The number of days where the humidex is 40 C or higher, will increase from nine on average per year now, to almost 40 times a year,” he added.
Here is what climate change could ruin:
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