And these. All the responses I'm seeing (except here in the Forum) stress, "It's hard but it's doable."
Damian Carrington, Berlin
IPCC climate change report: averting catastrophe is eminently affordable
Landmark UN analysis concludes global roll-out of clean energy would shave only a tiny fraction off economic growth
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/apr/13/averting-climate-change-catastrophe-is-affordable-says-ipcc-report-unIPCC climate report: a route map for civilisation's greatest journey
The landmark UN report shows the affordable paths to averting a global climate catastrophe: now politicians must decide the route and who pays the fare
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/damian-carrington-blog/2014/apr/13/ipcc-climate-report-a-route-map-for-civilisations-greatest-jour"(CNN) -- Keeping global warming down to a level people can live with means cutting carbon emissions to "near zero" by the end of the century, even in an increasingly industrialized world, the top U.N. experts on the issue reported Sunday.
That may be doable, but it will take "substantial investments" in everything from planting more trees to replacing fossil fuels with low-carbon power sources like solar, wind and nuclear energy, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change announced in its latest report."
"In the United States, the second-biggest producer of greenhouse gases, a boom in natural gas along with conservation efforts, more renewable energy and a steep recession combined to reduce carbon emissions by about 10% in the last decade. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who in February called the issue "the greatest challenge of our generation," said Sunday's report is an economic opportunity.
"So many of the technologies that will help us fight climate change are far cheaper, more readily available, and better performing than they were when the last IPCC assessment was released less than a decade ago," Kerry said in a written statement. "These technologies can cut carbon pollution while growing economic opportunity at the same time. The global energy market represents a $6 trillion opportunity, with 6 billion users around the world."
"The IPCC is clear that acting on climate change is possible, beneficial and affordable," said Samantha Smith, the head of the World Wildlife Fund's climate and energy program. "If we act now, costs will be only a very small fraction of global economies. Those who say it's too hard and too expensive are wrong." She said the report should convince investors "to pull your money out of dirty fossil fuels and put it into renewable energy and energy efficiency."
"Morgan said individuals can also do that by seeking greener power sources and ways to save energy, and by keeping a close eye on where they invest their 401(k) plans and other savings vehicles."
Includes a video: a Fareed Zacharia interview of Andrew Friedman.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/13/world/un-climate/index.html?hpt=hp_t2Slate: U.N. Climate Report: We Must Focus On "Decarbonization," and It Won't Wreck the Economy
"Turns out, it’s cheap. To create a scenario where global temperatures are “likely” to remain less than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels (the globally agreed-upon threshold after which “dangerous” climate change is apt to begin), we’d need to have around one-quarter of our energy mix from low-carbon sources by the year 2030. That fraction increases to about 60 percent by 2050..
"According to an economic analysis within Sunday’s report, an investment to stop climate change will only knock 0.06 percentage points off the world’s annualized economic growth rate from now till the end of the century. Assuming annualized growth of about 3 percent, full-scale motivation on climate change would reduce that to about 2.94 percent. Not bad. Side effects that weren’t factored in to that calculation may include: more efficient and productive food systems, human health improvements, biodiversity protection, poverty reduction—in general, making things better."
"Or we can continue on the business-as usual-path and see how that goes."
http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/04/13/ipcc_u_n_climate_report_fundamental_decarbonization_won_t_wreck_the_economy.html Samantha Smith, the leader of the WWF’s Global Climate and Energy Initiative:
"And money is the key. Only by switching huge amounts of investment away from fossil fuels and into renewables will we have a chance of stopping dangerous climate change. And the numbers are huge."
"This is why WWF is running a global campaign, Seize Your Power, calling on calling on financial institutions including major sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and multilateral development banks to significantly increase their funding of renewable energy and cut funding to fossil fuels as a key means of tackling climate change."
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/samantha-j-smith/climate-change-apocalypse_b_5089500.html