Tuesday 16 September 2008

We broke it - A letter to the Bracknell Standard



We have done it. They are broken and need repair now. In response to my letter on climate change, Nick Turner said in the Bracknell Standard of 11 September that the Earth’s atmosphere is kept relatively stable by the various feedback mechanisms. Well not any more.

Beware of optimistic scientists. Even at the start of this year, most were saying that by 2100, all the summer ice at the North Pole would have melted. This has now been found to be wildly optimistic as it has been shown that the Summer North Polar Icecap decreased 80% by volume over the last 18 years. It could vanish by 2013, rather than the 2100 estimate of only a few months ago.

Ice cores going back up to 800,000 years tell us that the carbon dioxide level in our atmosphere has always been between some 180 and 280 parts per million (PPM). That is until we started to burn oil, around 1860. Now the level is 385 PPM and increasing by over 2 PPM every year. And the figures are even worse if the other greenhouse gases such as methane are included. Turning to temperature, the planet has kept to the same sort of level (plus or minus 0.2 of a degree) since reliable records have existed, from around the year 1000. Since oil started to be burnt, the temperature has risen by 0.8 of a degree, including half a degree in the last 30 years. The sharp rises in temperature have been caused by the sharp rises in our emission of greenhouse gases. There is no other scientific explanation. The Earth’s atmosphere is highly complex and its delicate balance has been disturbed.


Nature’s feedback mechanisms have been broken by the burning of fossil fuels.

For the sake of future generations, we must save the planet. The latest calculation shows that for all years from 2012 onwards, the population of the planet must create 6% less greenhouses gases than the year before. To avoid runaway global warming, we need to burn much less fossil fuel and use renewable sources of energy instead. The politicians must sort this out and provide leadership to prevent global disaster. We haven’t time to leave the bill for the next generation.

David Young
The Green Party General Election candidate for Bracknell.

Energy Charges


This winter many people in Bracknell will have to choose whether to eat adequately or heat their homes. Yet Mark Owen-LLoyd, an executive of E.on, was quoted last week as saying that the continued high gas and electricity prices would mean more money for people such as him. What an awful thing to boast about when so many are suffering.


Some energy company have been making profits of £1000 per second throughout the first six months of this year. Huge sums of money are leaving this country and going abroad, as many of the utility companies are foreign owned, Why should poor UK residents pay high energy prices to benefit foreign shareholders?


Of course it was the original decision of the Conservatives "to sell off the family silver" (against the advice of their ex-Prime Minister, Harold MacMillan, who used these words). And since 1997 the Labour Government has continued to allow this awful situation. The Green Party calls for a large windfall tax on the vast profits of the energy companies. I think the money raised should be spent on providing solar panels in public and private buildings. This would mean less power being used in Summer. For Winter reductions in the use of fossil fuels, I call for more wind turbines locally.


David YoungThe Green Party General Election candidate for Bracknell.

Thursday 11 September 2008

Climate Change






Colour Photo is 2008 , black and white is 1956


In response to my letter on climate change, Nick Turner suggested in the Bracknell Standard that control should be through education, science and religion.

Education tells us that the planet was formed 4.6 billion years ago, modern human civilisation only started 11,000 years ago with end of the last Ice Age, around 1860 we started to burn oil causing an increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and that the earth’s temperature started to rise from then on. The rise has now rapidly increased by half a degree in the last 30 years, an increase far greater than anything in the past as shown from to ice cores going back 800,000 years.

Science tells us that the earth’s temperature should in fact be cooling as the change in the planet’s movement (angle of obliquity, precession, the shape of our orbit around the sun, the Milankovitch cycle) show we should be moving towards a cold period. The fact that the atmosphere is getting warmer (and the many resulting effects) is down to the burning of fossil fuels. There is no other scientific explanation. The Earth’s atmosphere is highly complex and its delicate balance has been disturbed. Some scientists now state that runaway global warming is inevitable and all we can do is minimize the horrid changes so it takes longer for the Earth to get like the planet Venus. According to Sir David Attenborough, all the independent scientific papers published in the last 20 years have warned of the extreme dangers but thankfully most scientists agree that if actions are taken now, we can save the planet. Let’s hope they are right for the sake of our grandchildren.

I’ve less to say about religion. There are many, some believing they are the only true faith. Most religious leaders state that humans should not harm God’s planet.

Nations can never come up with a global agreement on climate change until everyone takes responsibility for their emissions. We need to burn much less fossil fuel and use renewable sources of energy instead. The politicians must move away from always thinking about winning their next election and instead provide leadership to prevent global disaster.

David Young
The Green Party General Election candidate for Bracknell.