Some of the World’s Top Organizations
- the U.S.’s EPA (United States’ Environmental Protection Agency)
- the U.N.’s IPCC (United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)
- the National Academy of Sciences (U.S.)
- the U.S. Pentagon
- the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

etc. etc.

AGREE ON THREE THINGS:

1. Climate Change and Global Warming is real
2. caused by human
3. Left unchecked, climate change can escalate to largest global catastrophe humankind has ever known

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There exist no credible debate on whether the planet is warming and whether its caused by human

- there IS WIDESPREAD SCIENTIFIC CONSENSUS
- there is NO DEBATE
- what ILLUSION of a debate IS PURCHASED BY BIG COAL AND OIL COMPANIES, from QUASI-SCIENTISTS

SCIENCE & EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE

- Greenland ice sheet
- west Antarctic ice sheet
- each hold over 600 quadrillion gallons of water
- if each melts = 20 feet of sea level rise = 40 feet of sea level rise
- normally take 3 thousand years for Greenland ice sheets to melt
- now IT IS melting within a few centuries, even a few decades or even a hundred years from now if we don’t act immediately

— the problem is VERY VERY SERIOUS — it will be a very different planet a DECADE FROM NOW IF THE WORLD DOES NOT TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY ENOUGH ——

The earth will be screwed with a capital S if we are to wait until each and every single one of us “humans” become virtuous enough to live an environmentally and socially-conscious life, what we need is mass scale governmental action IMMEDIATELY.

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Winter of 2005 - HORRIFIC GREENLAND ICE SHEET DISCOVERY

- Greenland ice sheet melting FASTER than ever
- glaciers have soften to a point where it can have a sudden collapse
- can cause extremely catastrophic sea level rise
- can happen within THIS century - BEFORE THE MIDDLE OF THIS CENTURY IF NOTHING IS DONE ABOUT IT NOW
- WILL result in 20 feet increase alone

EFFECTS OF THAT 20 FEET SEA LEVEL RISE TO WORLD
-most S. Florida,
- most of S. Louisiana,
- parts of Manhattan,
- low countries of Europe: Belgium and Netherlands will be completely covered
- China: 250 million will be under water
- entire country of Bangladesh
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- will have to abandon major cities like London because it will be too complex
and too expensive to build a 25 meter-high sea wall around Florida or London (is that really realistic? no.)

- hundreds of millions of refugees
- imagine refugees from New Orleans which was only a hundreds of thousands
- mass migration on biblical scale, social ramifications of such large movements of people into new areas
- an estimated 1 billion will be forced inland from rising water alone

In the West:
- 75% water comes from snow pacts, built up huge cities that depend completely on that water,
- that snow pact is disappearing faster than ever

Fresh water in short supply
- food shortage = new set of crisis
- U.N. estimates over 150 flashpoints in world where wars will be fought over water
- war, famine, drought + unstable climate = billions MORE lives affected

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THE FUTURE IS BY AND LARGE IN OUR HANDS -
CAN CHOOSE BETWEEN A MODEST or RADICAL WARMING

- the generation right now before us controls the destiny of the planet itself

Greatest tragedy of the universe will be:

To realize we have the enough intellect and technology can save us from a killer asteroid
but not enough intellect to save us from ourselves

NOT ROCKET SCIENCE - TECHNOLOGY EXISTS TO SAVE US
- tech. for cleaner engines, efficient power, sustainable development EXIST ON THE SHELVES RIGHT NOW
- we currently have cars that goes 20 miles to the gallon, they can be getting to 80
- it can save 3/4 of the oil we use in our cars
- we need to learn how to get our food, electricity, and transportation needs without filling air with CO2

- prob not addressed on NATIONAL SCALE (has been addressed in some local scales)
- we have not EVER TRIED YET TO LEARN TO LIVE A SUSTAINABLE LIFESTYLE WITH SOCIETY ORGANIZED THROUGH SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT & EFFICIENCY

*** WE HAVE TO TAKE THE CAR OUT JUST TO GET MILK!****

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IN ORDER TO CONVINCE CHINA & INDIA
- WE (the U.S., Canada, “the DEVELOPED WORLD”) NEED TO PROVIDE LEADERSHIP
- TO PROVE THAT WE HAVE THE MORAL AUTHORITY TO ACT
- WE HAVE TO DO IT — IT IS POSSIBLE — BECAUSE the ALTERNATIVE… is unimaginable

the earth is in more danger of humans than from natural disaster

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- PLEASE SEE “3 PRINCIPLES OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT” PAGE -