2002 was the second warmest year on record. Fifteen of the warmest years since 1867 have occurred since 1980. More ice melted from the Greenland landmass in 2002 than any previous year and Arctic sea ice shrank 20% below its normal level.
Some scientists believe that this large quantity of fresh water entering the north Atlantic could disrupt the Gulf Stream, which brings warm water from the Caribbean to Europe. This could make our winters much colder.
In India, record heat waves of up to 46°C killed over 1000 people in Andhra Pradesh in May 2002. The terrible drought in southern Africa is still underway.
Higher temperatures caused the world grain harvest to fall to 1,813 million tons, some 80m tons below world consumption. The famed snows of Mount Kilimanjaro in Kenya have retreated 80% since 1900.
On January 2nd, Nature published two articles detailing the migration to colder climates of hundreds of species, plants and aniSports life. tion targets. expense of coal. are too low anyway. In the imperialist countries the
greenhouse gas emissions cuts need to be at least 85%. capitalist system will have real trouble meeting that target. mals, to colder regions or higher altitudes. and plantains are
This could cause disruption of ecosys- sterile: they pro tems as some species are able to migrate duce no seeds and others aren't, with unknown conse- and are bred by
quences for the biodiversity that sup- farmers
cuttings. In the face of this evidence of global This
warming, the EU has warned that more that they cannot than half of European Union member be cross-bred to
states are not on track to meet improve yields agreed greenhouse gas limita- or disease resistance. Many that are on track, like why there has the UK, are only so because been concern they have expanded electricity about the effects generation from gas, at the Policies to conserve energy have been neglected in favour of the "dash to gas", which is reaching its limits. The targets the EU talks about The
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20 soclalist r Women's liberation ice February 2003