It’s official now, well almost, 350ppm (parts per million) is the limit of carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere that the world has to achieve to avoid the worst of global climate change. Rajendra Pachauri, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change chairman, has made a statement clearly saying that 350ppm should be the ambitious target that the world must work toward achieving, as reported by Agence France Presse.
“As chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) I cannot take a position because we do not make recommendations,” explained Pachauri in an interview with Agence France Presse. “But as a human being I am fully supportive of that goal. What is happening, and what is likely to happen, convinces me that the world must be really ambitious and very determined at moving toward a 350 target.”
The IPCC puts out a report every five years; the next one is due in 2012. Previously 450ppm was the recommended upper limit and is what most governments are working toward. At the upcoming UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen, it is likely that renewed pressure on making agreements at the lower 350ppm level will occur.
Most climate change activists have long been saying that 450ppm is too high, so this is welcome news from a prominent authority on the subject. Over 80 small island nations have supported the call for the 350ppm target.
So what can we all do to help get the message out, check out 350.org, where many climate actions are being reported and called for, including spreading the word and calling for a Day of Action on October 24th.
If we all push our politicians for a 350ppm target now, we might just be able to mitigate much of the worse climate change effects before it is too late.
Visit: 350.org
Trevor Williams is a University of Victoria Mechanical Engineering PhD candidate specialising in renewable energy, power grid modelling and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. He has a bachelors in Aeronautical Engineering, a Masters in Management Science and over 23 years international experience in the space industry, having worked on Earth observation and telecommunications satellites. He is the author of the Eco-Geek blog.
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