• Question: How long do you think it will take humanity to reduce or even stop global warming ?

    Asked by xXx_Joseph_Stalin_xXx to Arthur, Clare, Daniel, David, Tora on 13 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Tora Smulders-Srinivasan

      Tora Smulders-Srinivasan answered on 13 Nov 2014:

      Apparently, if we stopped all man-made emissions today, it could take 1000 years to get back to pre-industrial levels for environmental measures like sea level and ocean surface temperature! So it could take much longer if we don’t actually cut anything back & I don’t know how soon we might…

    • Photo: Arthur Dyer

      Arthur Dyer answered on 13 Nov 2014:

      The scary think is that we won’t stop it any more if i’m honest.

      In the last few years scientists have stopped talking about it in terms of stopping global warming and now the language has turned to reducing global warming… sadly we are too late to stop it from getting worse but we can try to reduce how quickly that happens (sorry for such a glum answer but seeing as your profile name is Joseph Stalin I assumed you like a li’l bit of glum)

    • Photo: Daniel Parsons

      Daniel Parsons answered on 14 Nov 2014:

      Hi there Joseph?,
      Tora is right, even if we stopped all emissions of CO2 tomorrow the planet will take a long time to return to pre-industrial levels of CO2 and thus temperature….this is called a lag effect.
      Because of this many climate scientists have been working on looking for a possible “tipping point” where the warming triggers change that is not reversible.
      This has happened in the Geological past when Antarctica was covered in Cretaceous Rain Forests….and Scientists are trying to use information in the rocks formed back then to tell us what the climate was like and how quickly it changed.
      Either way we need to move to reduce CO2 emmissions if we can…but perhaps more importantly plan and prepare for the changes that will result. part of my work is looking at big low-lying deltas will change – these areas are home to close to billions of people and they are important both in generating food but are also very prone to sea-level rise. Big problems ahead I am afraid!

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