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Scientists urge 50% drop in emissions
The appeal from scientists follows a petition last week from more than 150 global business leaders
WASHINGTON -- For the first time, more than 200 of the world's leading climate scientists, losing their patience, urged government leaders to take radical action to slow global warming because "there is no time to lose." A petition from at least 215 climate scientists calls for the world to cut greenhouse-gas emissions in half by 2050. It is directed at a conference of diplomats meeting in Bali, Indonesia, to negotiate the next global-warming treaty. The petition, obtained by The Associated Press, was to be announced at a news conference there Wednesday night. The appeal from scientists follows a petition last week from more than 150 global business leaders also demanding the 50 percent cut in greenhouse gases. That is the estimate that scientists calculate would contain future global warming to an increase of little more than 3degrees Fahrenheit and is in line with what the European Union has adopted. In the past, many of these scientists have avoided calls for action, leaving that to environmental advocacy groups. But no more. The petition The document was signed by scientists from more than 25 countries, many co-authors of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports, directors of major American and European climate science research institutions, a Nobel winner for atmospheric chemistry and a winner of a MacArthur "genius" award. Signers' comments "It's a grave crisis, and we need to do something real fast. I think the stakes are way, way too high to be playing around," said Jeff Severinghaus, a geosciences professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, Calif. "The climate science community is essentially fed up," said Andrew Weaver of the University of Victoria in Canada. "A lot of us scientists think the problem needs a lot more serious attention than it's getting and the remedies have to be a lot more radical," said Richard Seager, a scientist at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. "Action needs to be taken and needs to be taken now," said Marika Holland, a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. "The longer we wait, the worse it's going to become." "The time for half-measures and the time for voluntary agreements and the time for arguing about 1 percent here and 1 percent there -- those things are no longer relevant," said NASA scientist Gavin Schmidt. Policy analysts' views "Scientists are in no position to intelligently guide public policy on climate change," said Jerry Taylor, a senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute. Scientists can lay out scenarios, but it is up to economists to weigh the costs and benefits, and many of them say the costs of cutting emissions are higher than the benefits, he said. Granger Morgan, a professor of engineering and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University, said he sees "a growing realization among a wide variety of players that we've got to stop talking about this and start some action." But, he added, "I'm not going to hold my breath that we're going to get anything." Online: The declaration, www.climate.unsw.edu.au/baliBY SETH BORENSTEIN, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS