By Peter Griffiths , Reuters
February 25, 2009
British scientist James Lovelock, famous for his Gaia theory of the
Earth being a kind of living organism, said higher temperatures will
turn parts of the world into desert and raise sea levels, flooding other
regions..
British scientist James Lovelock, famous for his Gaia theory of the
Earth being a kind of living organism, said higher temperatures will
turn parts of the world into desert and raise sea levels, flooding other
regions..
LONDON - Climate change will wipe out most life on Earth by the end
of this century and mankind is too late to avert catastrophe, a leading
British climate scientist said..
James Lovelock, 89, famous for his Gaia theory of the Earth being a
kind of living organism, said higher temperatures will turn parts of the
world into desert and raise sea levels, flooding other regions..
His apocalyptic theory foresees crop failures, drought and death on
an unprecedented scale.. The population of this hot, barren world could
shrink from about seven billion to one billion by 2100 as people compete
for ever-scarcer resources..
"It will be death on a grand scale from famine and lack of water,"
Lovelock told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday.. "It could be a
reduction to a billion (people) or less.."
By 2040, temperatures in European cities will rise to an average of
110 Fahrenheit (43 Celsius) in summer, the same as Baghdad and parts of
Europe in the 2003 heatwave..
"The land will gradually revert to scrub and desert. You can look at
as if the Sahara were steadily moving into Europe.. It's not just
Europe; the whole world will be changing in that way.."
Attempts to cut emissions of planet-warming gases such as carbon
dioxide (CO2) in an attempt to reduce the risks are probably doomed to
failure, he added..
Even if the world found a way of cutting emissions to zero, it is now
too late to cool the Earth..
"It is a bit like a supertanker.. You can't make it stop by just
turning the engines off," he said before the release of a new book on
climate change..
"It will go on for a long, long time.. If by some magic you could
suddenly bring the C02 down, it wouldn't suddenly cool off.."
Campaigns to promote recycling and renewable energy sources such as
wind and solar power are a waste of time, Lovelock adds, although he
concedes that nuclear power will help meet growing demand for energy..
While financial markets and politicians promote carbon emissions
trading schemes to reduce emissions and help the environment, Lovelock
says they, too, will have little effect..
"I don't see the efforts of governments around the world succeeding
in doing anything significant to cut back the emissions of carbon
dioxide," he said..
Efforts should instead be focused on creating safe havens in areas
which will escape the worst effects of climate change..
In his book, "The Vanishing Face of Gaia", he adds: "We have to stop
pretending that there is any possible way of returning to that lush,
comfortable and beautiful Earth we left behind some time in the 20th
century.."
The destruction of natural ecosystems for farmland, deforestation and
the rapid growth of the human race and livestock have all exacerbated
the problem, he added..
Scientists should not underestimate the crucial role of the oceans as
an indicator of rising temperatures and tool for reducing carbon
dioxide, Lovelock argues..
"Most of the Earth's surface is the ocean.. That holds 800 times more
than the atmosphere or the land.. And there is no question that the
ocean is steadily warming," he said..
A former skeptic of doom-laden predictions, Lovelock admits he is not
entirely comfortable with his role as a modern-day Cassandra, the cursed
prophetess of Greek mythology whose counsel was ignored..
However, he says the scale and speed of the looming crisis are so
great he must speak out. He is still struck by the public's apparent
lack of urgency about the problem..
"Don't blame me for the terrible predictions," said Lovelock, a
sprightly, trim figure with silver hair who looks younger than his age
and was soberly dressed in navy jumper, tie and casual trousers..
"The UN's IPCC ( Intergovernment al Panel on Climate Change) even in
its 2001 report was suggesting temperatures by 2040 and 2050 that were
devastatingly hot.. All I'm doing is drawing people's attention to it.."
� Copyright (c) Reuters
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