ARCTIC ICE CRISIS: WHY WE MUST LOWER ATMOSPHERIC CO2

For the many of us who have been rightly concerned for the fate of our Polar Ice Cap, there is encouraging news from NASA scientist Dr. James E. Hansen. He gives us hope that we can refreeze the polar ice.

Dr. Hansen, who prefers to be called Jim Hansen, has been referred to as the World’s leading climatologist. He is a plain‐spoken American mid‐westerner best described by his colleagues as a “one of the good guys,” a brilliant scientist who finds himself in the unlikely position of playing the role of hero for us all. He knows better than most the danger runaway climate change poses for our species and the life on our planet, and he lays out climate data and scenarios in terms non‐scientists can readily understand.

There have certainly been times in geologic history when the Earth’s temperature has been abruptly forced down, whether by the impact of a large meteorite or a very large volcanic eruption. Hansen points out, however, that never has our planet’s temperature and carbon dioxide level been forced upward at the rate that has occurred since the beginning of the industrial revolution. The rate of CO2 increase is 14,000 times anything ever recorded in geologic history. The level of CO2 in atmospheric parts per million (ppm) is now at 387, higher than 350,000 years ago, and this is increasing at about 3 ppm annually. As temperature and CO2 are directly linked, any concentration above 400 ppm could push our climate system well past a point of no return.

Although we have been experiencing cool weather in the Pacific Northwest this summer, it is important to note that elsewhere on our planet, notably in West Antarctica, the Polar North and the vast expanse of tundra in Siberia, huge temperature increases are occurring. In the Arctic, the ice melt has nearly equalled the record‐breaking loss of last summer. Our planet as a whole, put simply, is already too hot.

The Polar Ice Cap is crucial for the preservation of Greenland’s glaciers. Its dissolution will speed the melting of these glaciers to such a degree that we will see in this century millions of people displaced by sea level rise. We can see from the National Snow and Ice Data Center satellite images of the Arctic this summer that there has been a dramatic sea ice melt along the eastern coast of Greenland as comparer to last year: http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/, and in July, a massive chunk of ice recently broke away from the Petermann glacier: http://www.livescience.com/environment/080821-greenland-glaciers.html

According to Hansen, if we allow the Earth’s land‐based glaciers and ice sheets to melt, it will take many thousands of years for them to refreeze. However, to refreeze the floating polar ice would take only a fraction of that time. Whereas we have seen the stability of the polar ice decay in less than 60 years, it could refreeze again in less than a century or two ‐‐ but only if we cause the CO2 level in our atmosphere to return to a level where this could take place. This level should be at 350 ppm or lower, preferable below 325 ppm. Put another way, we should bring the Earth’s temperature back down to where it was in the early 1950’s.

This would not only stabilize our climate, which has been remarkably benign for the last 10,000 years, it would also protect the vast ice sheets and glaciers on our planet and prevent the huge sea level rise that will occur if they melt. Present day flooding South Asia represents just a fraction of the cost in human lives of future storms and higher water levels.

So what should we do? The answer is everything we can; it will take more than one effort to save our biosphere. If we must continue to burn coal until more ecologically efficient means of generating power are developed, then the carbon must be captured and sequestered at the source, no matter what the expense. Although the technology to do this safely has yet to be developed, it must be. Until it is, no new coal-fired power plants should be allowed. Moreover, “scrubbers” to capture carbon from the air will become necessary to help bring CO2 levels down. According to a story in The Guardian on May 31st 2008, Could US scientist’s ‘CO2 catcher’ help to slow global warming?, at least one scientist, Dr. Klaus Lackner of Columbia University, is working to develop this technology. See the article in The Guardian on May 31, 2008, “Could US scientist’s ‘CO2 catcher’ help slow global warming?”

All captured, compressed carbon must be stored safely, preferably beneath the sediment on the ocean floor, where there will be little danger of its release.

Our existing carbon sinks, such as our peat bogs and forests, must be protected. Global farming practices must change to capture and restore carbon to the soil. The deep burial of waste wood and trees should be considered to prevent carbon release.

Exploration and development of petroleum sources, including the Alberta tar sands, must soon be brought to a halt. All modes of transportation must become carbon neutral, again because this is crucial to our survival. Energy must be supplied to the electrical grid from carbon‐free sources, such as concentrated solar and various types of geothermal energy, including deep or hot rock energy. These technologies are already being developed and are fast becoming more affordable.

This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t bother changing our light bulbs. Every action to reduce the carbon in our atmosphere should be taken, whether the price tag is $2.00 or $2,000,000,000. But we should be constantly aware of the fact that we have to decrease the level of CO2; allowing our atmosphere to stay at its present level is far too dangerous. Not to act, and not to do so immediately, is simply unacceptable in biological and geological terms.

Jim Hansen states that given the present high level of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere, our climate system may have passed a tipping point, but that it has not yet passed a point of no return. He says to restore CO2 to a level that will preserve our biosphere is “doable.” But we must begin doing the doable, now.

Dorothy Cutting
West Coast Climate Equity dcutting@yahoo.com

Please contact me at for an extensive list references and more information. I will be glad to send links to Jim Hansen’s talks, interviews and power point presentations, many of which can be found at his website at Columbia University: http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/. I have been reenergized and inspired by his optimism, and it is my hope that others will feel the same.