Climate Accord

Professor Peter Banks, Sunrise Scientist member, presented statistics, facts, needs and goals of the 2016 Paris Climate Accord Conference – the 21^st meeting of 195 nations since 1880 -- the start of the industrial Revolution. The specific goal this year is: To achieve a legally binding and united agreement on climate with the aim of keeping global warming below two degrees centigrade. Peter reports that the temperature has already risen by 1-1/2 degrees centigrade since 1880.

Twenty billion tons of polluting material has already been put into the atmosphere. Europe is doing well in cutting back on emissions. South America follows. However, the rest of the world is conducting “business as usual.” India is attempting to catch up to China in industrialization. China is serious about addressing this issue and sent more scientists to the conference than any other nation in the world.

Rising sea levels, caused by rapidly melting polar ice caps, are creating rivers under the ice that will have a significant impact on the entire globe. This phenomenon, “Hypsographic Demography” is the study of how altitude affects human populations. One thousand people per kilometer of coastline, in South East Asia, will be affected by rising water. Eight hundred million will be displaced by the rise of just one meter. Peter reports that the sea at Mission Beach, California has already risen two meters since the time when he lived there as a boy.

Many protest and deny these facts, somehow thinking that they know more than proven science. People and corporations continue to earn money by mining coal. Twenty-five years ago, these facts were presented to the board of directors at Amoco Corporation. They hid the data.

“The earth provides to satisfy everyone’s needs, but not everyone’s greed. “ --Ghandi