By James Long, SanDiego350
(Originally published in the East County Magazine)
On Monday, March 13, 2017, at the First United Methodist Church in Mission Valley, a panel composed of a climate scientist and representatives of the Jewish, Catholic, and Islamic faiths discussed climate change, each from their perspectives.
Dr. Ramanthan makes his presentation. Photo by Greg Withee
The evening began with Dr. V. Ramanathan’s summary presentation of his climate science findings over the past 47 years. Dr. Ramanathan is a professor of atmospheric and climate sciences at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. He also serves as a council member in Pope Francis’ Pontifical Academy of Sciences. In his presentation, he made the following points:
- We are giving a damaged planet to our children, who will witness a rapidly and adversely changing, unpredictable world in their lifetimes
- $500 billion in subsidies are given to the worldwide fossil fuel industry each year; this amount would solve 60% of the climate problem
- There is still time to avoid the effects that a global temperature increase of 6°C would impose (at which point one third of the planet would be uninhabitable), but the window of opportunity is only open for 4 or 5 more years
- The wealthiest one billion people in the world contribute 50% of global CO2 emissions, while the poorest 3 billion people contribute only 5%
- The University of California has put forth 10 solutions to combating climate change, gathered in a report called Bending the Curve
- In addition, The Lancet has published a report on the adverse health effects that climate change will impose
