| At first glance it's hard to imagine how the | | | | Some even argue for the benefits of global |
| proliferation of human activity upon the | | | | warming, which include for example the |
| environment has been a major factor in | | | | opening up of new shipping lanes in the artic |
| climate change given that climate change | | | | as the ice recedes, new oil drilling |
| alone is nothing new. Over two million years | | | | opportunities and longer harvest periods in |
| the earth's history has seen enormous | | | | Canada and Russia. |
| changes. Indeed, in the last ten thousand | | | | |
| years the warming and cooling of the earth | | | | It seems climate change is inevitable and the |
| has been on a larger scale that what we see | | | | small economic ideas such as banning coal |
| today. | | | | subsidies bear little fruit as a means of |
| | | | curbing the problem. More than ever, |
| The climate is however very changeable these | | | | political will must be demonstrated at first |
| days. Getting the politics right has been | | | | to show to industry and populations that it |
| half the fight. Unfortunately, the right | | | | is even an issue. More importantly perhaps, |
| policy has been held at bay partially by | | | | the will of the politicians must be met with |
| having the right knowledge of what's | | | | achievable methods from the technological and |
| happening to the climate. The climate changes | | | | scientific community. |
| we see today are the result of only a century | | | | |
| and a half of study, peanuts in comparison | | | | Professor Socolow is leading the way with |
| the huge shifts over the earths history. | | | | what he calls "stabilisation wedges". On a |
| | | | graph of climate change, the space between |
| The recent UN Climate Change Conference | | | | the trend line and the stability line is |
| sought to put in place a policy to take over | | | | known as the "stabilisation triangle'. By |
| the Kyoto protocol. At its core were some | | | | dividing these triangles into wedges and |
| recently publicised results: | | | | assigning realistic goals to each wedge the |
| | | | massive problem is given a usable and |
| The warming trend on the earth's surface has | | | | effective solution. |
| been taking place since the early part of the | | | | |
| twentieth century. The last ten years have | | | | The goals to assign to the wedges range from |
| been the warmest of that millennium. | | | | greater overall efficiencies, the |
| | | | decarbonisation of electricity, fuel |
| There have been rapid signs of melting the | | | | displacement by low carbon electricity, |
| Arctic circle. The sea ice there has fallen | | | | methane management, and natural carbon sinks. |
| by around eight percent over thirty years. | | | | By further subdividing each wedge into sub |
| | | | wedges, such as decarbonised electricity |
| The old inconsistency in the data between the | | | | being subdivided into nuclear power, |
| temperature rise in the atmosphere and on the | | | | renewable energy, natural gas as an |
| planets surface seems to have levelled out. | | | | alternative to coal, and the storage of |
| They appear to rise in parallel. | | | | carbon dioxide - these problems are |
| | | | confounded into what everyone has been |
| The Scripps Institute of Oceanography in | | | | looking for. A short list of solutions that |
| California noted that the ocean has been | | | | together will balance the problem. |
| warming at different depths for over 65 | | | | |
| years. These results match the predictions | | | | It seems the technology for all this exists. |
| that warming has been induced more by | | | | It is merely in need of refinement. For |
| greenhouse gases that as a result of small | | | | example the management of carbon dioxide from |
| changes in the suns heat output. | | | | the burning of fossil fuels could be dealt |
| | | | with through further carbon sequestration. A |
| There has been an observed and recorded link | | | | couple of power plants already employ this |
| between the sea surface temperature and the | | | | particular technique to good effect. The |
| frequency and intensity of tropical storms, | | | | carbon dioxide is extracted at the source and |
| typhoons and hurricanes. | | | | is injected into porous rocks deep |
| | | | underground to prevent it escaping into the |
| The existing computer models of the change in | | | | atmosphere. |
| ocean currents, in particular in the North | | | | |
| Atlantic, are correct. | | | | Steam reformation is another technique. It |
| | | | is, in essence, a pre-emptive technique that |
| There are however still some unknowns. For | | | | reacts the fuel used with water to yield |
| example the solar hypothesis is now known to | | | | hydrogen. The hydrogen output is burnt to |
| be a lesser contributor, the miniscule | | | | create electricity. |
| changes in the suns heat output over its | | | | |
| eleven year sunspot cycle is adding to the | | | | Of all the possibilities of reworking and |
| mix. Also, the aerosol emissions from | | | | inventing technologies, perhaps the best idea |
| sulphurous fuel promote the formation of | | | | is the oldest idea. Replanting programmes. |
| clouds, and as a consequence the sunlight | | | | The idea of photosynthesis to combine carbon |
| reflected from the earths surface increases, | | | | dioxide with water and sunlight is a |
| effectively opposing the greenhouse gas | | | | relatively cheap and exponential idea and |
| effect. | | | | would be hugely effective. |
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