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.
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.
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