Absent leadership is leading us towards climate disaster
Oxford, 08 March 2007. Chilling words were spoken at the annual Earthwatch lecture in Oxford last night. Professor Chris Rapley CBE, Director of the British Antarctic Survey, issued grave warnings about human kind's current energy addiction and cited the failure of governments worldwide to take sufficient action in the face of looming crisis. To hear an interview with Professor Rapley visit the Passion for the Planet homepage.
"Europe's vision to reduce emissions by 60 per cent before 2050 is an impossible goal unless we see a dramatic change in policy, behaviour and attitude," said Prof. Rapley. "I am not convinced that carbon trading will provide the solution. The amount of carbon we extract from the ground and release into the atmosphere needs to be regulated if we are truly going to protect future generations from a major dislocation."
Prof. Rapley further argued that if human kind is to reduce its dependence on cheap, transportable, high-density energy then a new form of leadership is required.
"Over the last five years, in spite of much rhetoric, the world's carbon emissions have continued to increase, with no sign of our following a trajectory that would limit global warming to levels considered acceptable," he continued. "Leadership has so far been either absent or inadequate. Strength and aggression will not win this battle; we need intelligent and cooperative action for the global common good."
Prof. Rapley's concerns are based on a career of gathering climate change evidence from space instruments, involvement in major international science initiatives such as the recently launched International Polar Year 2007-2008. His present work with the British Antarctic Survey has demonstrated that polar ice is responding more rapidly to climate change than previously expected.
"We have never seen a marine ice sheet - one sitting on rock well below sea level - respond to climate change in human history, but this is happening now in West Antarctica. We cannot be sure how this will continue, but this melting could ultimately drain enough ice to raise sea levels by 1.5 metres," warned Rapley.
Prof. Rapley's message was clear, "the availability of energy has brought us great prosperity, but the evidence that our addiction is causing significant climate change is now unequivocal. In a warmer world, ice melts, and the changing world coastline will displace millions and disrupt critical infrastructure."
"To save London and many other cities from disappearing, we must learn to emit no more than two gigatons of carbon a year [we currently emit seven gigatons and the projections are that without dramatic action this will double by 2050]. It is a painful reality, but the longer we leave it, the harder it becomes."
Prof. Chris Rapley CBE was invited to speak at the second annual Oxford Earthwatch lecture, 'Shrinking ice and absent leadership; How they are connected and What to Do' on 7th March 2007.
Earthwatch is an international environmental organisation whose mission is to engage people worldwide in scientific field research and education.
A transcript of the lecture can be found at - www.sindark.com/wiki/index.php?title=7_March_2007%2C_C.G._Rapley
For press information, images and interviews, please contact;
Zoe Gamble, Earthwatch PR Manager, tel + 44 (0) 1865 318852; mob 07725690469; email zgamble@earthwatch.org.uk.
Linda Capper, Head of Press, PR and Education at the British Antarctic Survey, tel: +44 (0)1223 221448; mob: 07714 233744 ; email: L.Capper@bas.ac.uk
Editors Notes