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	Dangerous sea level rise may occur in decades, not centuries by Dr. James Hansen   Mar. 2016   Dr. James Hansen, the former NASA scientist who is widely credited with being one of the first to raise concerns about human-caused global warming, is a co-author of a new report predicting that the world will undergo potentially dramatic sea level rises within mere decades—not centuries, as previously thought.   The report, published this week in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, paints a bleak picture of the planet''s future, suggesting that continued high fossil fuel emissions will "increase powerful storms" and drive sea-level rise of "potentially several meters over a timescale of 50 to 150 years."   Dr. Hansen, who now serves as the director of the Climate Science Awareness and Solutions program at Columbia University Earth Institute, published the findings along with an international team of 18 researchers and academics.   The report states, the predictions "differ fundamentally from existing climate change assessments." For example, the United Nation''s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2013 predicted three feet of sea level rise by 2100 if greenhouse gas emissions continue unabated.   A draft version of Hansen''s paper released last year provoked wide debate among climate scientists. Michael Mann, a renowned climate scientist with the University of Pennsylvania, who is among those questioning some of the report''s predictions, told the New York Times, "I think we ignore James Hansen at our peril."   The peer-edited report examines growing ice melt from Antarctica and Greenland and studies how that melting has historically amplified "feedbacks that increase sub-surface ocean warming and ice shelf melting."   Taking into consideration "rapid, large, human-made climate forcing," the study predicts a much more accelerated rate of sea level rise of several meters, beyond that which humanity is capable of adapting to. Or, as Hansen put it, "We’re in danger of handing young people a situation that’s out of their control."   These alarming claims come as climate scientists continue to reel from the frightening speed at which the Earth is warming. On Monday, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) issued a report warning that climate change is occurring at an "alarming rate" and that world leaders must act to curb greenhouse gases now, "before we pass the point of no return."   In a video released alongside the new report (see link below), Dr. Hansen, who left his position at NASA in 2013 so that he could fully commit himself to fighting climate change, says that the report explores the consequences of continued greenhouse gas emissions. These include "superstorms stronger than any seen in modern times," sea level rise that will erase "all coastal cities," and, finally, "how soon we will pass points of no return."   http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/16/3761/2016/acp-16-3761-2016.html Visit the related web page
	Suspend loans tainted by Uzbek forced labour by Walk Free, Cotton Campaign, agencies Uzbekistan   Mar. 2016   In December 2015, we joined our partner, the Cotton Campaign, in a protest outside the World Bank headquarters in Washington D.C. We projected a showcase of striking images and videos of Uzbek slavery onto the side of the Bank’s building.   Drugged, beaten and detained by police – this was the fate of Elena Urlaeva when she dared to document state-sponsored slavery in the cotton fields of Uzbekistan.   In Uzbekistan, the whole country suffers because of the government’s dependence on revenue from the cotton harvest. The government operate the world’s largest state-run system of forced labour where activists like Elena are brutally repressed, pensioners are being forced to pick cotton or submit 50% of their pension, and education and health care are undermined for two months every year due to the mass mobilisation of teachers and doctors.   What’s worse is that there are international actors helping Uzbekistan keep its dirty secret – including the World Bank. The World Bank is an international institution that provides loans for developing countries. Right now they are funding projects totalling $500 million in Uzbekistan that are documented to be using forced labour.   The good news is that the World Bank signed a contract agreeing to suspend loans if evidence of forced labour was uncovered. Now we need your help to hold them to this promise.   This year, as the latest announcements calling “everyone to the cotton fields” were heard echoing around the countryside of Uzbekistan, we’re planning to hit the Uzbek government where it hurts – its pocket.   By calling on the World Bank to account for its actions in propagating Uzbekistan’s forced labour regime, we’re showing that the international community will not accept or fund state-sanctioned forced labour. But without huge public pressure, the World Bank may turn a blind eye – please don’t let this happen.   * Sign our petition now and help put an end to forced labour in Uzbekistan, see also the Cotton Campaign for more details: http://www.cottoncampaign.org/ http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/voices/uzbekistan-s-perfect-storm-corruption Visit the related web page
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