Audio Transcript:
Global Warming. The Ball is in Our Court.
I'm Bob Karson with the discovery files -- new advances in science and engineering from the National Science Foundation.
Fresh information in a study led by the National Center for Atmospheric Research indicates that the time for just talking about global warming is over. The good news is that action now could stabilize the threat of climate change, according to supercomputer simulations.
Earth's atmosphere, let's start with some numbers, like the PPM of greenhouse gases (parts-per-million): (SOUND EFFECT: agrarian) pre-industrial earth: 284. (SOUND EFFECT: city traffic) today: 380. (SOUND EFFECT: massive jam) by the year 2100, if we continue on our current path, a whopping 750.
That could cause a significant rise in temperature, with potentially catastrophic effects on climate. But by rapidly implementing green technologies globally to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, scientists believe we could get that number to go no higher than 450 and keep the global temperature increase to about one degree Fahrenheit over the next 90 years -- saving arctic ice, reducing sea level rise, and cutting severe regional weather changes in half -- compared to doing nothing.
But it's not easy, to do that, the world will have to cut current levels of heat-trapping emissions by 70 percent.
The researchers say it's already too late to stop significant warming this century, but we can still avoid the worst impacts of climate change.
I guess only if cooler heads prevail.
"The Discovery Files" covers projects funded by the government's National Science Foundation. Federally sponsored research -- brought to you, by you! Learn more at nsf.gov or on our podcast.
