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