In 1986, our top scientists said that we would pass the lethal tipping point of 2 degrees by 2010, and fry at 8 degrees warming by 2030 – with almost five feet of sea level rise.
June 11, 1986
Dr. James E. Hansen of the Goddard Space Flight Center’s Institute for Space Studies said research by his institute showed that because of the ”greenhouse effect” that results when gases prevent heat from escaping the earth’s atmosphere, global temperatures would rise early in the next century to ”well above any level experienced in the past 100,000 years.” Steeper Rise in Next Century
Average global temperatures would rise by one-half a degree to one degree Fahrenheit from 1990 to 2000 if current trends are unchanged, according to Dr. Hansen’s findings. Dr. Hansen said the global temperature would rise by another 2 to 4 degrees in the following decade.
While the effect of small increases in global temperature is now unclear, Andrew Maguire, vice president of the World Resources Institute, a Washington research and policy group, said that the doubling of atmospheric carbon dioxide that is foreseen would cause a rise of 3 to 8 degrees in temperature by the 2030’s. He said this would devastate agriculture in the United States and elsewhere, and would cause a rise in sea level of some 4.5 feet as polar ice melted.
http://www.nytimes.com/1986/06/11/us/swifter-warming-of-globe-foreseen.html
So basically, we have been extinct for the past four years. But Gaia is merciful, and has granted us a 25 year reprieve. We now have until 2035 to save the planet.
Apr 14, 2014
Former president Mary Robinson said this morning global leaders have “at most two decades to save the world”.
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/robinson-calls-for-climate-agreement-by-2015-1.1761501