GLOBAL WARMING : Degree-by-Degree Guide

The following vital information is extracted from the Appendices of the book "FROM CRISIS TO PEACE" written by The Supreme Master Ching Hai...

"If global warming continues at the current rate, we could be facing extinction. So what exactly is going to happen as the Earth heats up? Here is a degree-by-degree guide, excepted from SIX DEGREE: Our Future on a Hotter Planet, by Mark Lynas, in National Geographic, January 22, 2008 (Lynus, M, 2007)

1 Degree C increase
Ice-free sea absorbs more heat and accelerates global warming; fresh water lost from a third of the world's surface; low-lying coastlines flooded.
Chance of avoiding one degree of global warming : ZERO

2 Degree C increase
Europeans dying of heatstroke; forests ravaged by fire; stressed plants beginning to emit carbon rather than absorbing it; a third of all species face extinction.
Chance of avoiding two degrees of global warming : 93% but only if emissions of greenhouse gases are reduced by 60% over the next 10 years.

3 Degree C increase
Carbon release from vegetation and soils speeds global warming; death of the Amazon rainforest; super hurricanes hit coastal cities; starvation in Africa.
Chance of avoiding three degrees of global warming: poor, if the rise reaches two degrees and triggers carbon-cycle feedbacks from soils and plants.

4 Degree C increase
Runaway thaw of permafrost makes global warming unstoppable; much of Britain made unihabitable by severe flooding; Mediterranean region abandoned.
Chance of avoiding four degrees of global warming: Poor, if the rise reaches three degrees and triggers a runaway thaw of permafrost.

5 Degree C increase
Methane from ocean floor accelerates global warming; ice gone from both poles; human migrate in search of food and try vainly to live like animals off the land.
Chance of avoiding five degrees global warming: negligible, if the rise reaches four degrees and releases trapped methane from the seabed.

6 Degree C increase
Life on Earth ends with apocalytic storms, flash floods, hydrogen sulphide gas and methane fireballs racing across the globe with the power of atomic bombs; only fungi survive.
Chance of avoiding six degrees of global warming: Zero, if the rise passes five degrees, by which time all feedbacks will be running out of control.

For more reading and information, please visit:
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/six-degrees-could-change-the-world-3188/Overview

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/six-degrees-could-change-the-world-3188/six-degrees-book

To read "FROM CRISIS TO PEACE... the Organic Vegan Way is the answer" (free-of-charge), log on to : www.crisis2peace.org