“Global surface temperatures in 2010 tied 2005 as the warmest on record, according to an analysis released Wednesday by researchers at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York. The two years differed by less than 0.018 degrees Fahrenheit. The difference is smaller than the uncertainty in comparing the temperatures of recent years, putting them into a statistical tie. In the new analysis, the next warmest years are 1998, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007 and 2009, which are statistically tied for third warmest year.”

“If the warming trend continues, as is expected, if greenhouse gases continue to increase, the 2010 record will not stand for long,” James Hansen, the director of GISS, said.

“The warmth this year reinforces the notion that we are seeing climate change,” said David Easterling, from the National Climatic Data Center.

"Satellite monitoring by the NSIDC in Boulder, Colorado, shows that the melting of sea ice has been unusually fast this year, with as much as 40,000 sq km now disappearing daily.

The melt season started almost a month later than normal at the end of March and is not expected to end until September.

Meanwhile, research from the polar science centre at the University of Washington suggests that the volume of sea ice in March 2010 was 20,300 cubic km, 38% below the 1979 level when records began."

And according to James Hansen, director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York and one of the world’s most prominent climate scientist, new data also shows that the global surface temperatures may also be at record levels. According to a newly released paper by Hansen and his colleagues the temperature on Earth has for the past 12 months been 0.65C warmer than previous global temperatures from 1951 to 1980. The paper also shows that the global temperature this year will break the previous record from 2005.

"It is likely that the 2010 global surface temperature … will be a record", Hansen writes.

"Global warming on decadal timescales is continuing without let-up … we conclude that there has been no reduction in the global warming trend of 0.15-0.2C/decade that began in the late 1970s."

The Guardian article has written about more findings so be sure to check that article out. Especially worth noting is the new data which shows that January to April this year has been the hottest on record so far. Climate Progress writes:

"Last month tied May 1998 as the hottest on record in the NASA dataset. More significantly, following fast on the heels of easily the hottest April — and hottest Jan-April — on record, it’s also the hottest Jan-May on record.

Also, the combined land-surface air and sea-surface water temperature anomaly for March-April-May was 0.73°C above the 1951-1980 mean, blowing out the old record of 0.65°C set in 2002."

And the temperature records continues! New data also shows that the temperature during January-June this year has been the hottest ever recorded by NASA.

"It’s all the more powerful evidence of human-caused warming “because it occurs when the recent minimum of solar irradiance is having its maximum cooling effect,” as a recent NASA paper notes."

But La Nina conditions might build up during July and August which might reduce the average heat temperature for 2010.

Meteorologist Jeff Masters also notes that new temperature records have been reached in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Chad, Niger, Pakistan and Myanmar. Masters writes:

"We’ve now had eight countries in Asia and Africa, plus the Asian portion of Russia, that have beaten their all-time hottest temperature record during the past two months. This includes Asia’s hottest temperature of all-time, the astonishing 53.5°C (128.3°F) mark set on May 26 in Pakistan…. This week’s heat wave in Africa and the Middle East is partially a consequence of the fact that Earth has now seen three straight months with its warmest temperatures on record, according to NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center."

Also read:  Hundreds die in Indian heatwave – Death toll expected to rise as India faces record temperatures of up to 122F in hottest summer on record

“The Arctic sea ice melt is a disaster for the polar bears,” according to Kassie Siegel, staff attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity. “They are dependent on the Arctic sea ice for all of their essential behaviors, and as the ice melts and global warming transforms the Arctic, polar bears are starving, drowning, even resorting to cannibalism because they don’t have access to their usual food sources.”

Scientists have noticed increasing reports of starving Arctic polar bears attacking and feeding on one another in recent years. In one documented 2004 incident in northern Alaska, a male bear broke into a female’s den and killed her.

Unfortunately there seems to be no light in the tunnel for the polar bears. A new preliminary report from NASA shows that the sea ice at the Arctic continues to disappear and that the ice-levels this year has reached the second-lowest level on record.

NASA reports that the Arctic sea ice has reached a second all-time low “since the dawn of the satellite era”. Previous record low for September was in 2005. NASA says that this year’ loss of sea ice “further reinforces the strong negative trend in summer sea ice extent observed during the past 30 years”. In the past sea ice has covered about 60% of the Arctic. But this winter the sea ice covered less than 30%.

“In March, when the Arctic reached its annual maximum sea ice coverage during the winter, scientists from NASA and the data center reported that thick, older sea ice was continuing to decline. According to NASA-processed satellite microwave data, this perennial ice used to cover 50-60 percent of the Arctic, but this winter it covered less than 30 percent. Perennial sea ice is the long-lived layer of ice that remains even when the surrounding short-lived seasonal sea ice melts to its minimum extent during the summer.”

The image shows that the daily Arctic sea ice extent for September 12, 2008, was 4.52 million square kilometers (1.74 million square miles). The orange line shows the 1979 to 2000 average extent for that day. The black cross indicates the geographic North Pole. A high-resolution image can be found here.

“Instead of moving heavily into renewable energies, fossil fuel companies choose to spread doubt about global warming, just as tobacco companies discredited the link between smoking and cancer. Methods are sophisticated, including funding to help shape school textbook discussions of global warming.”

Dr James Hansen wrote the guest opinion entry titled “Global Warming Twenty Years Later” in light of his testimonial to the US congress, 20 years after his 1988 June 23 testimony. In it he warns that “we have used up all slack in the schedule for actions needed to defuse the global warming time bomb,” and that the “climate is nearing dangerous tipping points.” According to Dr James Hansen we only have two years left to act.

He also wrote that the “safe level of atmospheric carbon dioxide is no more than 350 ppm” and that the 450 ppm (two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) goal, that for example the European Union has agreed on, “is a recipe for global disaster, not salvation.”

Dr James Hansen urges that the “time is short” and that the 2008 USA election is “critical for the planet”. But when our politicians remain silent and at “loggerheads” we, the “citizens must lead.”

“We must demand a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants. We must block fossil fuel interests who aim to squeeze every last drop of oil from public lands, off-shore, and wilderness areas. Those last drops are no solution. They yield continued exorbitant profits for a short-sighted, self-serving industry, but no alleviation of our addiction or long-term energy source.”

As Dr James Hansen says, “time is short.” So should we really wait for the mobs of climate change refugees to take out their revenge or should we start prosecuting these liars and climate criminals right now?

Top British climate scientist Professor James Lovelock FRS has warned that over 6 billion people will die this century due to unaddressed climate change. Already 16 million people die avoidably in the world each year due to deprivation and deprivation-exacerbated disease (see: “Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950” (G.M. Polya, Melbourne, 2007). It is already clear from declining agricultural production due to drought and massive storm surge disasters in India, Bangladesh, Burma and the US that global warming is already impacting on global avoidable mortality.

Greenhouse gas pollution – mostly due to carbon dioxide (CO2) from fossil fuel burning – is driving global warming and attendant species extinctions, droughts, sea level rise, decreased agricultural production and increased human death. However a major reality that is generally ignored is the death toll associated with pollutants other than CO2 generated by fossil fuel burning, notably carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, particulates, volatile organic components, nitrogen oxides and heavy metals such as mercury. As outlined below an upper limit of about 0.3 million people die avoidably each year in the world due to the effects of toxic pollutants from fossil fuel burning.

The Ministry of Energy of Ontario, Canada, commissioned a report into “true cost” of coal-fired power plants i.e. the “true cost” taking into account the environmental cost and the human impact in terms of mortality (deaths) and morbidity (illness) (see: “Cost Benefit Analysis: Replacing Ontario’s Coal-Fired Electricity Generation” (PDF) by DSS Management Consultants Inc. and RWDI Air Inc., for the Ontario Ministry of Energy, April, 2005, 93 pages). The report found that the “true cost” of coal-based electricity was 4-5 times the “market price” depending upon whether one valued a human life at $4 million or $5 million.

Of crucial importance to analysis of human deaths from coal-based electricity generation, the Canadian report found that 668 Ontarians die due to 27 TWh (27 trillion Watt hours) of electricity generation (for a summary see: http://evworld.com).

Canada and Ontario in particular have excellent medical services that are readily accessed by all members of society. Further, the population density in Ontario is much lower than in other countries (indeed even continental Australia most of the coal-fired power stations and most of the population are confined to relatively densely populated coastal regions). Accordingly, estimates of “annual coal-based electricity deaths” in other countries based on the Ontario ratio of 668 avoidable deaths per annum /27 TWh = 24.7 deaths per TWh are likely to be UNDER-estimates.

Coal, gas and oil burning all produce toxic agents such as carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, particulates, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, volatile organic components and heavy metals, notably mercury (Hg) (see: http://dar.csiro.au/…/urbanpollution.html). Sulphur (S) content varies and mercury (Hg) pollution from combusted petroleum and natural gas is about 10 times less than that which derives from coal (66 Mg/y in the US); however this estimate was based on Hg from US fuel oil of 1,500 kg/y whereas the US EPA estimates Hg from fuel oil at 10,000 kg/y (10 Mg/y: http://www.epa.gov/…/.pdf).

We will initially ASSUME for arithmetic simplicity and “ball-park estimation” that the oil, gas and coal combustibles used to generate electricity are equally dirty in terms of toxic products and deadly impact – and then go back to assess coal-specific electricity generation using available data on the percentage of fossil–fuel-based electricity generation due to coal burning.

For authoritative information on energy usage we can refer to the US Energy Information Administration (US EIA) that reports official energy statistics from the US Government covering the last quarter century. For all US EIA International data see: http://eia.doe.gov/international and for US EIA data on 2005 thermal electricity production, see http://eia.doe.gov/…/electricitygeneration.html.

The Ontario Ministry of Energy study indicated 668 deaths /27 TWh of coal-based electricity generation = 24.7 deaths/TWh. Using this figure we can estimate annual deaths from fossil fuel-based electricity generation (assuming equality in toxicity of coal, oil and gas burning and other factors such as medical services, population density and environmental protection services). Since Canada has excellent, publicly-accessible medical services, low population density and good environmental protection our estimate for other countries will be under-estimated – however the assumption that coal-burning is no more toxic than the burning of other fossil fuels may lead to over-estimation of the death toll.

Before providing these mortality estimates for all major fossil fuel-burning nations, it is useful to compare the estimates of annual deaths from fossil fuel-based electricity generation (“annual fossil fuel-based electricity deaths”) with those from coal-based electricity generation (”annual coal-based electricity deaths”) for several key countries. Thus “annual fossil fuel-based electricity deaths” for the US, the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand are 71,877, 6,854, 5,394, 3,760 and 355, respectively (2005). These estimates are compared with estimates for “annual coal-based electricity deaths” for these countries.

The US “annual coal-based electricity deaths” have been estimated at 30,000 [2002]: “Coal-burning air pollution harms human heath in several different ways. Tiny particles of sulfur and nitrogen from coal burners lodge deep in our lungs, causing as many as 30,000 premature deaths per year, according to the most up-to-date study by EPA consultant Abt Associates“. According to Janet Larsen of The Earth Policy Institute it is 25,100 [2004]: “By moving beyond coal, the United States could avoid a legacy of smog-filled skies, acid rain, polluted waterways, contaminated fish, and scarred landscapes. This could each year save some 25,000 lives, reduce respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses, avert potential neurological damage for 630,000 babies, and erase a health care bill of over $160 billion”.

49% of US electricity of 4,065 TWh is from coal i.e. 1,991 TWh (2006: Sources: Wikipedia and EIA) indicating 49,153 [2006] ”annual coal-based electricity deaths” as compared to 71,887 “total annual fossil fuel-based electricity deaths”.

The UK produced 409 TWh of electricity in 2005 of which 33.6% was coal-based i.e. 137.4 TWh, this corresponding to 137.4 TWh x 668/27 TWh = 3,399 [2005] “annual coal-based electricity deaths” as compared to 6,854 “total annual fossil fuel-based electricity deaths”.

Australia produced 255 TWh of electricity in 2006 of which 92% was from fossil fuels and 77% was from burning black or brown coal, this yielding an estimate of 0.77 x 255 TWh x 668/27 TWh = 4,858[2006] ”annual coal-based electricity deaths” as compared to 0.77 x 5,394/0.92 = 4,515 [2005] ”annual coal-based electricity deaths” (see above) and total ”annual fossil fuel-based electricity deaths” of 5,395 (2005; see above).

Canada produced 567 TWh of electricity in 2003 of which 28% was from fossil fuels and 19% was from coal burning i.e.107.7 TWh and we can calculate 107.7 TWh x 668/27 TWh = 2,665 [2003] ”annual coal-based electricity deaths” as compared to 0.19 x 3,760/0.28= 2,551 [2005] ”annual coal-based electricity deaths” and 3,760 [2005] “total annual fossil fuel-based electricity deaths”.

New Zealand produced 41.6 TWh of electricity in 2005. In 2004, 73% of the total input into electricity generation was from renewable resources(predominantly hydro), 16% was from gas and 11% was from coal i.e. 4.6TWh (2005) corresponding to 114 [2005] “annual coal-based electricity deaths” as compared to 355 “total annual fossil fuel-based electricity deaths”.

It is useful to compare the above figures from the “Anglo” countries with those for the World and the major non-European Developing countries China and India using data from the US Energy Information Administration, the World Coal Institute and the Pew Centre on Climate Change (see: http://pewclimate.org/…/coalfacts.cfm). Thus the “total annual fossil fuel-based electricity deaths” for India, China and the World can be estimated to be 13,319, 47,477 and 282, 945, respectively. In India 69% of electricity is from coal i.e. 456.5 TWh/y corresponding to 11, 276 “annual coal-based electricity deaths”. In China about 80% of electricity is from coal, corresponding to 1,898 TWh/y and 46,868 “annual coal-based electricity deaths”. For the World as a whole coal provides 40% of the total electricity i.e. 6,940 TWh/y and corresponding to 171,418 “annual coal-based electricity deaths”.

The World is not responding to warnings from top climate scientists such as NASA’s Dr James Hansen and his colleagues who are calling for a “negative CO2 emissions” policy to reduce atmospheric CO2 to a safe level of no more than 350 ppm from the current already dangerous level of 385 ppm (see: http://arxiv.org/…/.pdf and http://mwcnews.net/…/23119/42/). The warnings of such eminent scientists are obfuscated by self-interested climate scepticism, especially from the leading per capita CO2 polluters, the US and Australia.

However the above analysis shows that there is a horrendous reality ALREADY of about 170,000 deaths annually throughout the world from the effects of coal-based electricity generation and as many as 0.3 million deaths annually from pollutants from fossil fuel-based electricity generation in general – a huge death toll that cannot be ignored. Please tell everyone you can.

Dr Gideon Polya published some 130 works in a 4 decade scientific career, most recently a huge pharmacological reference text “Biochemical Targets of Plant Bioactive Compounds” (CRC Press/Taylor & Francis, New York & London, 2003). He has just published “Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950” (G.M. Polya, Melbourne, 2007: http://mwcnews.net and http://globalbodycount.blogspot.com);
see also his contribution “Australian complicity in Iraq mass mortality” in “Lies, Deep Fries & Statistics” (edited by Robyn Williams, ABC Books, Sydney, 2007). He is currently preparing a revised and updated version of his 1998 book “Jane Austen and the Black Hole of British History” as biofuel-, globalization- and climate-driven global food price increases threaten a possibly 100-fold greater famine catastrophe than the man-made famine in British-ruled India that killed 6-7 million Indians in the “forgotten” World War 2 Bengal Famine (see recent BBC broadcast involving Dr Polya, Economics Nobel Laureate Professor Amartya Sen and others).

Just like the global warming deniers say the Arctic ice is approximately the same as it was last year, as data from Nasa clearly shows. But, the Nasa data also shows that the old and thick Arctic ice is melting much faster than previous years.

Data shows that ice older than two years have decreased from 60% to 30% of the total ice mass in Arctic.

Seelye Martin, manager of the Cryospheric Sciences Program at Nasa headquarters in Washington DC, said that “although this March the area is slightly larger than last March, the area of [thick] perennial ice has reached an all time low.” And he concludes that “the volume of Arctic ice continues to decrease.”

So despite the colder weather from La Niña the old and thick Arctic ice is melting at record speeds. And this is worrying. The older Arctic ice is thicker and contains less salt than younger ice does. That means they can last longer during warmer periods.

If the Arctic ice melts away it will be felt around the world. We will see sea levels rising and the earth will get warmer when ice no longer can reflect the solar energy back into space.

Walt Meier from the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) in Boulder said that “it may look OK on the surface, but it’s like looking at a Hollywood movie set – you see the facade of a building and it looks OK, but if you look behind it, there’s no building there.”

Scientific reports projects that the Arctic will become ice-free by year 2050. But newly released reports suggest it could happen as early as 2013. And as closer we get to 2013 the newer forecast looks more accurate.

It was not even a year ago since the Northwest Passage in the Arctic melted away making it possible for ships to sail all the way through the Northwest Passage. In 2002 Larsen B, a 3,250 km² big area of 220 m thick ice collapsed and melted away. And it was just two days ago reports started coming that the 14,500 km² ice shelf called Wilkinson has started to collapse and melt away.

In 1993 Professor David Vaughan of BAS predicted that if the warming continues the northern parts of Wilkins would be gone within 30 years. In an interview with BBC News recently he said he “didn’t expect to see things happen this quickly. The ice shelf is hanging by a thread – we’ll know in the next few days or weeks what its fate will be.” He also noted that “this is yet another indication of climate change in the Antarctic Peninsula and how it is affecting the environment.”

If you are interested the Guardian and SVT (Swedish state television) has videos and images from the melting.

Image credit to BBC and NASA.

The morning sessions of the Convergence were devoted to a series of succinct addresses by a series of very well-informed speakers who variously addressed topics such as the Bali Conference, the Pacific Islands facing inundation, Carbon Equity, Technological Solutions, Opportunities for Business, Forests, Youth activism, Union Solidarity and Green Enterprises, North-South Issues , Social Justice and Equity, Arctic ice loss and Climate Emergency and the urgent need for a Climate State of Emergency Declaration. A repeated theme was indeed the current Climate Emergency and Sustainability Emergency and the need to take effective action to convince society, business and politicians to declare a Climate State of Emergency NOW.

The afternoon sessions began with the launch of “Climate Code Red – the Case for a Sustainability Emergency” by David Spratt (Carbon Equity) and Philip Sutton (Greenleap Strategic Institute) (http://www.climatecodered.net) (I will review this important book in detail on Green Blog shortly but a brief summary is provided below). The Convergence then continued with specific Workshops and Regional Climate Action Group (CAG) get-togethers. A key outcome was the decision by some of these groups to reinforce sentiment from a prior initial meeting by agreeing to form a Coalition for a Climate Emergency Declaration.

The essence of the exhaustively referenced “Climate Code Red” book is that the IPCC 2007 Report was several years out of date when it appeared (their literature for consideration cut-off date was 2005) and that the global situation is far more serious than hitherto surmised. The latest climate research, in particular from NASA’s Dr James Hansen and his colleagues, reveals that we have already reached a “tipping point” in relation to the complete melting of Arctic summer ice (now predicted by some to occur as soon as in a few years’ time). The massive thinning and complete melting of Arctic ice is being driven by “positive feedback” elements (notably the so-called “albedo flip” involved in conversion of light-reflecting white ice to light-absorbing dark sea and consequent further sea and air warming). However this Arctic ice melting is promoting OTHER adverse events with attendant positive feedback effects leading to accelerated warming and ice melting phenomena e.g. the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets are melting much faster than hitherto predicted (due to increased polar temperature and lubrication of glacier movements by melt water) and the tundra is thawing (with release of the greenhouse gases methane [CH4] and carbon dioxide [CO2], increased global warming etc).

The authors of “Climate Code Red” agree with NASA’s Dr James Hansen that the appropriate RESPONSE to this present situation of ACTUAL massive ecosystem damage (and with evident initiation of other likely non-linear global warming related events, notably ice sheet and tundra melting) is no longer the Bali-style “finite CO2 emission reduction targets”) or even “zero emissions” but must be an urgent global policy of “negative CO2 emissions”. This will involve cessation of coal power, and other fossil fuel burning, rapid expansion of renewable energy provision and mechanisms to REDUCE existing atmospheric CO2 from 385 ppm to a “safe”, sustainability-consistent 300-350 ppm (e.g. re-forestation, sulphate aerosols and return of carbon to the soil with pyrolytic biomass charring) (see: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/…/).

According to Dr James Hansen, in calling for an immediate cessation of coal power:

“If disintegration of these ice sheets passes their tipping points, dynamical collapse could proceed out of our control. If it melts completely, West Antarctica alone contains enough water to cause about 20 feet (6 meters) of sea-level rise. There are also tipping points in life systems. Today, as global temperature increases at a rate of about 0.2 degrees Celsius (0.36 degrees Fahrenheit) per decade, isotherms (a line of average temperature) are moving poleward at a rate of about 50-60 kilometers (35 miles) per decade. In response, some species are moving.” (see “: http://www.thebulletin.org/columns/james-hansen/20080124.html ).

David Spratt and Philip Sutton crystallized the road ahead as indicated by “Climate Code Red – the Case for a Sustainability Emergency” by 5 key propositions that I have reproduced as headings below and addressed succinctly using my own words and perceptions.

1. “Our goal is a safe-climate future – we have no right to bargain away species or human lives.” Massive species extinctions have already occurred; there is massive ecosystem damage ALREADY; un-ameliorated current 2.5 ppm per year increases in CO2 from the present 385 ppm CO2 threaten even more damage (world coral dies above 450 ppm; the ocean phytoplankton system goes at 500 ppm; sea level rises of 5 meters this century due to Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheet loss); current global warming ALREADY harms billions of people; and projected unaddressed global warming acutely threatens 6-9 billion people this century with over 6 billion predicted to perish this century by Professor Lovelock FRS (see: (see: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/…/ ; http://climateemergency.blogspot.com).

2. “We are facing rapid warming impacts: the danger is immediate, not just in the future.” Temperature increases approaching 2 degrees C above the pre-industrial (an average global temperature not seen for a million years) are ALREADY implicit in the system – a global average 0.8 degrees C above pre-industrial ALREADY, with a further 0.6 degrees C in-built from current CO2 levels and 0.4 degrees C per decade temperature increases possible from continuing “business as usual” CO2 pollution and declining carbon sink efficacy (through de-forestation, phytoplankton decline and storm-impacted loss of net CO2 absorption by the Oceans – this has ALREADY occurred with the Southern Ocean). Major UN relief programs are ALREADY being impacted by global warming effects, notably in Africa.

3.”For a safe climate future, strong action is required now to stop emissions and to cool the earth.” According to Dr Hansen we have ALREADY passed the “tipping point” for complete melting of Arctic sea ice and the attendant threats of accelerating Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheet melting, carbon sink failure, permafrost loss, phytoplankton and forest loss with non-linear effects and positive feedbacks. The technology and the economic incentives are ALREADY available to replace fossil fuel burning by renewables (essentially ALL renewable energy sources are ALREADY cheaper than the “true cost” of coal–based power which is about 5 times higher than the current “market cost” (see: http://climateemergency.blogspot.com). Cooling the Earth can be further achieved by sulphate aerosols, soil carbon sequestration by adding pyrolytically charred biomass and massive re-forestation.

4. “It is necessary to plan a large-scale transition to a post-carbon economy and society.” There are analogous precedents for rapid, highly profitable, industrial conversion in the WW2 US armaments-geared economic boom, the post-war economic boom, the Asian Tiger economic expansion, the current China and India expansions and the IT revolution of the 1990s. 10,000 times more solar energy hits the Earth than is needed for Man’s current energy needs and the major renewable technologies are ALREADY cheaper than the “true cost” of coal power (see “Renewables: how the numbers stack up”: http://www.newmatilda.com/2007/08/08/how-numbers-stack).

5. “We should recognize a climate and sustainability emergency, because we need to move at a pace far beyond business and politics as usual.” Dramtic industrial turn-around has happened before in war-time (driven by the absolute need for victory), it has happened before in relation to New Technologies (driven by desire for profit) and it has happened in Asia (driven by a post-colonial desire for a better life above the starvation level of the colonial era). Aside from the moral obligations for biosphere and species sustainability, there is an extraordinary economic, social and indeed political advantage from Declaration of a Climate State of Emergency.

We have got to this present parlous state because of LYING – through the myth that the Powerful can take what they want with impunity from the water, air, land and biological resources that are the COMMON Property of ALL Humanity. As soon as these climate criminal, climate genocidal barbarians are made to pay the FULL environmental and human cost of what they are doing, the ALREADY AVAILABLE and economically-dictated renewable, sustainable solutions will become imperative. But before that can happen and as dictated by the climate science, we must ACT to Declare a Climate Emergency, a Climate State of Emergency, and we must do it NOW (see: “Climate Sustainability Emergency. Negative CO2 emissions needed now to save Planet“: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/20133/42/ ; “Climate Emergency, Sustainability Emergency”).

Dr Gideon Polya published some 130 works in a 4 decade scientific career, most recently a huge pharmacological reference text “Biochemical Targets of Plant Bioactive Compounds” (CRC Press/Taylor & Francis, New York & London, 2003). He has just published “Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950” (G.M. Polya, Melbourne, 2007: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/1375/247/ and http://globalbodycount.blogspot.com ).

The movie is called “Six Degrees Could Change the World“. It is voiced by Hollywood actor Alec Baldwin and includes interviews with NASA’s Jim Hansen and IPCC Chair Rajendra Pachauri.

The movie is premiering on National Geographic Channel in the US on February 10 at 8pm ET/9pm PT, and around the world on later dates. Here are the trailers for each of the six degrees: