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"We Must Tighten the Noose Around Coal" Is Climate Battle Imperative

February 4, 2009

by staff writer

NEW YORK (RUSHPRNEWS) 02/04/09 -- Professor Jesse Ausubel of Rockefeller University in New York has been talking about the need for the world "to tighten the noose around coal" since 1988, and his words ring all the more alarmingly today. Those fighting against climate change and global warming have heard the call -- but for the most part, our culture, our world, our politicians, remain deaf to Ausubel's words.

In 1988, Professor Ausubel wrote in an academic paper: "We must tighten the noose around coal. Its use should be restricted to plants meeting stringent requirements for environmental performance. Globally, perhaps 50 to 100 billion tons more coal may be used (about 20 to 40 years of current consumption) before coal largely disappears from the market".

LINK TO PAPER:
http://phe.rockefeller.edu/light_path/

Dr Ausubel wrote those words more than 20 years ago. His ringing denunciation of coal have also become part of a "Virtual Graduation Speech to the Class of 2099," posted online for college graduates of today to read and ponder, and not just the class of 2009, but the class of 2010, the class of 2011, the class of 2012 as well. In the "virtual" graduation speech, students of the future are told:

"Class of 2099, I want to leave you with seven words: 'We must tighten the noose around coal'. Dr. Jesse Ausubel of Rockefeller University in the U.S. wrote those words more than 100 years ago, and they were prophetic. Has your world tightened the noose around coal? Has your world started to tackle the vexing problems of overpopulation, climate change and the creation of a sustainable economy? Is global warming something that will shape your future, or are the denialists out there still complaining that it is a hoax?"

http://tufts2099.blogspot.com

In a recent email to RushPRnews, Dr Ausubel explained that he wrote those words about the need to tighten the noose around coal for an academic paper he was delivering in the late 1980s.His prophetic words have been highlighted on climate change blogs around the world, including the popular Dot Earth blog run by New York Times science reporter Andrew C. Revkin.

But is anyone listening? The world's reliance and addiction to coal and other fossil fuels for our so-called "energy needs" is creating the perfect storm of climate chaos and global warming, and if the human species is to survive much past the year 2500, we must act now to shed our reliance on coal and other fossil fuels completely, according to top scientist Dr James Lovelock in Britain. In a recent email to RushPRnews, Lovelock said: "Climate chaos may very well happen and it may very well happen soon!"

Connect the dots. From Ausubel's warning to Lovelock's dire predictions, we do not have much more time left to sort things out.
Will we do the right thing and tighten the noose around coal?

Time will tell.

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