By Simon Leufstedt
Tuesday, 12 August, 2008

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Simon Leufstedt is the editor of Green Blog. Simon has previously studied Global Environmental Justice and is currently studying Human Ecology and Political Science at Lund University in Sweden. Simon is also blogging over at the Swedish 350 website and working with the Swedish TckTckTck organisation. You can follow Simon on Twitter.

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100 Months Left Until Climate Change Runs Out of Control

100 Months Left Until Climate Change Runs Out of Control

In 100 months it will be too late to stop climate change. Then we have passed the “tipping point” where climate change will run out of control and leave us powerless to intervene. The message comes from the new campaign One Hundred Months from the New Economic Foundation (NEF), which wants to highlight this dangerous “tipping point.”

“If you shout “fire” in a crowded theatre, when there is none, you understand that you might be arrested for irresponsible behaviour and breach of the peace. But from today, I smell smoke, I see flames and I think it is time to shout. I don’t want you to panic, but I do think it would be a good idea to form an orderly queue to leave the building,” says Andrew Simms, policy director and head of the climate change programme at NEF.

The New Economic Foundation’s plan to stop climate change before December 2016 is pretty downright. They want to stop constructions of “infrastructure that is fossil-fuel-dependent.” Such as high-ways, airports and coal power plants, invest in renewable energy and public transportation systems and put a heavy tax on companies that invest money into fossil fuels.

100 months might sound like a short period of time. But unfortunately these calculations are based on old numbers and science from the IPCC. So the time until we reach the “tipping point” might be a lot less than these 100 months.

No matter if we only have 100 months left, or 50 months left, or if we have already passed the “tipping point” there is no reason for our current inaction. “Now it is time for the government to lead, and do its best to make sure that neither a bang, nor a whimper ends the show.”

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  • http://www.conservationwarehouse.com Phyllis V

    I think the last paragraph, or next to last one, says it best in that it is never to late to start conservation. The time is NOW!

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