UK Government's Chief Scientific Advisor sounds alarm on climate change and calls on Bush to act

"King has sounded an alarm that cannot go unnoticed: climate change poses an unprecedented global threat and inaction is not an option.

The Kyoto Protocol looks set to become international law in spite of President Bush but, given that CO2 levels are rising faster than ever before and the West Antarctic ice sheet is melting more rapidly than ever predicted, we need an emergency response.

All political and business leaders have a duty to respond by making radical policy changes, especially the USA given that it is responsible for a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions. All governments must make far greater cuts to our CO2 emissions than they're currently considering - and fast - if we're to save our skins.

To do this, we must urgently rethink how we source our energy. Instead of burning oil, coal and gas, we need to pump massive investment into clean, safe sources of energy such as wind, wave and solar power and into energy efficiency."

Notes: 1) See research on the West Antarctic ice sheet on www.sciencexpress.org / 23 September 2004 / Page 1 / 10.1126/science.10996502) The European Union is currently considering cutting CO2 emissions to 30% of 1990 levels by 2020. Other governments have not yet started discussing emissions targets beyond 2012.3) Research shows that we can generate 50% of our energy from wind, wave and solar PV, solar thermal, geothermal and biomass sources by 2040. See European Renewable Energy Council "Renewable Energy Scenario 2004" http://www.erec-renewables.org/publications/default.htm#scenario20404) The European Energy Efficiency Directive proposes that Europe can use 20-30% less energy by investing in energy efficient technologies (i.e. at zero net costs).