the importance of global warming and climate change

A letter in last week's Bracknell Standard doubted the importance of global warming and climate change. May I state a few facts.

Let me compare the problem of increasing carbon dioxide to the thickness of glass in a greenhouse. Normal levels of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere equate to thin glass which keeps the temperature nice and stable. Thicker glass leads to a warmer temperature in the greenhouse. If the glass is too thick, the temperature will just get hotter and hotter until the greenhouse is broken. It is the same with increasing "greenhouse gases" in our planet's atmosphere. 

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is made up of leading climatic scientists from many countries. In 2007 they were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their work. They say there is no room for doubt, the temperature of the the earth's atmosphere has risen since we started to burn fossil fuels increasingly since around 1850. There has been a rise of half a degree centigrade in the last 30 years.

We know the effect this has already had. The warmer atmosphere has caused an increased number of killer storms. Diseases from Africa are moving north as the bugs thrive in our warmer climate (blue tongue disease arrived last year and malaria is following). Our wildlife is changing as the seasons alter. Water shortages in some parts of the world (e.g. Australia) are caused by rain storms being fewer in number but torrential when they come. They also cause flooding. Hot temperatures mean less efficient food production that leads to higher prices. We are using more fossil-fuel energy to keep cool in summer. Expansion of warmer seas and the melting of glaciers and ice caps lead to rising sea levels which will mean some cities and low land going under water. 

Unfortunately it takes time for the atmospheric temperature to catch up with the greenhouse gases we humans have put there so far. So even if we used no more gas and oil, the temperature will still rise by a further half a degree in the next 50 years. To avoid runaway climate change, we must start now to cut back our carbon emissions. It will make a difference if we all help in many tiny ways. 

According to Sir David Attenborough, every independent scientific paper published in the last 20 years has supported the consensus that the rise in world temperatures has been caused by the increasing carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. Yet in UK our carbon emissions are still rising by 1% each year.

It is a world wide problem and thus down to Governments to agree world wide solutions. Nevertheless the UK should provide leadership. Unfortunately this is unlikely to happen whilst politicians seek election by supporting NIMBYism (Not In My Back Yard) and offering short term financial bribes to the electorate. Why do the rich worry about Inheritance Tax when there is unlikely to be a world as we know it today for their grandchildren to inherit?

Readers may wish to borrow the DVD The Inconvenient Truth from their local local library or read Gabrielle Walker and Sir David King's book The Hot Topic. Sir David King was until recently the UK Chief Government Scientist. Trust him not the optimists. 

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David Young is the Green Party General Election candidate for Bracknell.

To retain human life on the planet we need to save the Gulf Stream and the permafrost. To help, we can all cut our CO2 emissions: Reduce consumption; Reuse; Recycle; Insulate our homes; Use less electricity, gas and water; Buy local food and save food miles; Use less fossil fuel; Fly less.