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Why we need to you must act now: Action Timeline 

By Matt Owens        March 20, 2013


        Following on the recent article, Common sense calls for a radical plan, is this graphic. It shows that if the Climate Movement follows trends of other typical American movements (like the Civil Rights Movement), it will be about 10 years before real social and policy changes turn into real changes on the ground.

        Based on feasibility estimates, letting these policy changes lead to real physical changes will take some time, about 10 to 20 years. Infrastructure, legal contracts, and other established systems will undergo radical changes under the direction of the redirected free market. That puts us somewhere between 2033 and 2043, which is cutting it dangerously close! We need to keep up the activism and get this show going! 

        Below: Climate Action Timeline (part of "A radical Plan").

Climate action diagram




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Also check out:

A Radical Plan - how can we replace fossil fuels - quickly? - landing page with links to relevant posts.

Take Action - links to great activist groups.

Sea Level Rise - a bottom-line summary, plus links to posts.

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Wicked warming: U.S. report paints dire picture if emissions continue rising (2013_Jan)

What the models don't show: excluded feedbacks (2013_Feb)

The rise of rogue superstorms (2012_Nov)

Temperatures are rising all around us: looking at 5-year trends around the world (2013_Jan)

Sea level rise could crimp GDP; US direct losses could top 1/4 trillion per year during 2040-2050 (2012_Dec)

Modern food supply under assault (2012_Nov)

Is Dallas done for? And what about the rest of the country? (2013_Jan)

Arctic sea ice nosediving (2013_Mar)

Lukas to meteorologists: megadrought danger is real (2013_Jan)

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-Nobuo Tanaka
Executive Director, International Energy Agency
2010
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Highlighted Research

Convert carbon dioxide (CO2) weight to carbon (C) weight

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CO2/3.67 = C 

or:

CO2 x 0.2727 = C

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ex: 40 GtCO2 ≈ 10.9 GtC

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1 Gt (Gigatonne) = 1 billion tonnes

1 tonne = 1,000 kg

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Also: 1 Pg = 1 Gt

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1 Pg (Petagram) = 1 quadrillion grams

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Soil specialists tend to use Pg, as they are used to working with gram units per square meter of soil area. Atmospheric specialists tend to use Gt. 


Convert carbon emissions to ppm atmospheric CO2

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GtC/2.12 = ppm

To convert emissions of carbon to atmospheric ppm CO2, carbon sinks must be taken into account. 

So far, terrestrial and oceanic sinks have taken up about 50% of CO2.

source

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ex: 40 GtCO2 emissions ≈ 10.9 GtC

10.9 GtC/2.12 ≈ 5.14 ppm CO2 before accounting for sinks

5.14 ppm CO2 x 0.5 ≈ 2.57 ppm CO2 after accounting for sinks

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