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.