You seen mis- informed on the ranges of predictions - could you provide a link for Hansen. I do not think the physics allows that sort of melt in the time period.....ice has a huge latent heat to overcome to change phase.
You say we cannot predict human behaviour - we do this all the time - you are wishful thinking that the world will wean itself off fossil in any significant way before a 4 degree C average gain - already close to half of that is in the pipeline.
Yes indeed there is progress in some areas but recognize the scale of the issue.
To meet the world's electricity demand - let alone replace coal - one engineer calculated a GW nuke a day for 20 years.
We might be at one a month or so.
There are good people in the US and Canada working towards the same ends despite the idjits in power.......
I suspect long term industrial civilization will get to close to carbon neutral as Sweden has committed to by 2050 Their program is steady and sensible.
http://www.energysavingsecrets.co.uk/ca ... utral.html
Without these two issues I could agree with your thoughts.
a) the population is going to grow by 50%
b) the upwardly mobile population in developing nations will soar as well towards a first world energy footprint.
China is as committed as any country to reducing carbon but they are also realists - they are building nukes, they have built the largest solar facility, they are building wind power.....but they are also building a coal plant a week.
China makes great progress on sustainable development
On June 18, 2012, in Asia, Business, Rio+20, Sustainable development, UN, by admin
June 18, 2012 (via chinadaily.com) RIO DE JANEIRO – China has made great progress on sustainable development despite difficulties along its development path, a senior UN official said here Friday.
As a developing country, China has gone through a more difficult development course than developed countries, said Sha Zukang, UN under-secretary-general for economic and social affairs, at an event on the sidelines of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20 Earth Summit).
Looking ahead, China will face many difficulties and obstacles. At present, China has more than 100 million people living below the poverty line, and China still has to work hard in emission reduction and environmental protection, he said. Continue Reading >>
http://worldgreensummit.org/china-makes ... velopment/
Had the world not gone stupid over the Japanese nuclear accident there might have been a nuclear revival enough to make a dent.
I am hopeful the stunning finds in natural gas will help reduce the rise in carbon at least tho fracking has it's own set of issues. But to think we will avoid 4 degrees by century's end is really hoping for a last minute Hail Mary solution.
Bill Gross thinks there is billions if not trillions to be made in green power
http://articles.businessinsider.com/201 ... ssil-fuels
and yes at some point it will come.....but our planet will be very different by then ......is already.
I think you would be hard pressed to find a climate scientists that thinks we will stay in the 2 degree range.
So like the Dutch - planning needs to done now for the reality of a 4 degree rise and a circa .5 meter rise in sea level.
Coping instead of prevention.
The wild card is how much damage extreme weather will do. So far the picture is bleak on the that front.
I'm still of the opinion that the real nightmare lurking is ocean acidification and so were the scientist behind the Monaco declaration.
Global Scientists Draw Attention to Threat of Ocean Acidification
Scripps researchers among international signatories to the Monaco Declaration, an assessment of increased ocean carbon dioxide uptake and call to action
Scripps Institution of Oceanography / University of California, San Diego
More than 150 leading marine scientists from 26 countries are calling for immediate action by policymakers to sharply reduce CO2 emissions so as to avoid widespread and severe damage to marine ecosystems from ocean acidification.
http://scrippsnews.ucsd.edu/Releases/?releaseID=957