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Eastbourne
Environmentalist
| Climate Change |
 Carbon emissions from transport, industry, the household and power
generation are predicted to cause within the next few decades a
significant change in our climate.
The amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere is now 30% greater than
pre-industrial levels and this is set to be 100% by 2100.
The Global tempertaure is set to rise with possible consequences including the
upheaval of environmental refugees, the spread of disease, damaging
ecosystems, or
severe weather conditions.
Ultimately, continuing with our current levels of carbon emissions,
plus those expected from the
industrialisation and new found
consumerism of the 2nd and 3rd world countries, the impact could be
devastating
and irreversible and potentially threaten all life on the planet.
The world is however waking up to this issue and is realising that
whether it like it or not it needs to do what it takes to avoid
disaster. There are many campaign groups concerned with the
future of our
planet. A strong protest movement is gaining strength as the Campaign Against Climate
Change who organise large national demonstrations
in
London before critical climate talks.
This is an issue affecting all of us and requires serious
consideration about the way we lead our lives. At the end of
the National Demo in December 2005, George Monbiot gave a
speach entitled "The
Struggle Against Ourselves"that
considers what we are being asked to to turn around the envronmental
impact of human development. |
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Greenhouse
Effect |
Since 1957 carbon dioxide levels have been recorded in Mauna Kea,
Hawaii showing an
increase in the Earth's atmosphere. This trend is also found
in deep cut samples of ice in Antarctica that contain layers of
surface air bubbles trapped in a timeline of the climate's
history.
The basic scientific
mechanism
of the Greenhouse effect has been known since early in the 19th
Centurary when it was suggested that elements in the Earth's Atmoshere
act in a similar way to the glass panes in a greenhouse.
Light enters the greenhouse/atmosphere and is absorded by the
plants/surface. Thermal radiation from these objects escaping
the
greenhouse/atmosphere is partly absorbed by the glass/elements in the
atmosphere and reemittd back into the greenhouse/atmosphere.
Greenhouse gases act like a blanket over the Earth retaining
heat
and warming the atmosphere. Without this effect the average
temperature of the Earth would be -6 degrees celcius instead of 15!! |
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| Hockey
Stick |
 The most famous set of graphs show strongly
the degree to which human influence is changing the atmosphere. |
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Carbon
Footprint |
A popular way of illustrating the impact Mankind is having on the earth
is to consider the 'footprint' we are leaving. This was
concieved
by the WWF and Stockholm Institute. If everyon on the planet
lived their lives like the average European our forrtprint would need
the resources of 3 planets! See Best Foot Forward |
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Climate FACTS |
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"The
problem with land is that they stopped making it some time ago."
Mark Twain
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