Climate Change : Point of No Return vs Doomsday tales

Nowadays, fierce discussion about Doomsday arguments around Climate Change are taking place everyday. Sometimes these arguments are used by politicians in order to take advantage of people´s fears. However, it is of great importance the understanding of evidences that support these arguments in order to appreciate if there is any manipulative and scandalous use of media in favour of political parties.

One needs to realise that “the Earth has a natural CO2 cycle that moves massive amounts of CO2 into and out of the atmosphere. The oceans and land vegetation release and absorb over 200 billion metric tons of carbon into and out of the atmosphere each year. When the cycle is balanced, atmospheric levels of CO2 remain relatively stable. Human activities are now adding about 7 billion metric tons of carbon into the atmosphere every year, which is only about 3-4% of the amount exchanged naturally. But that’s enough to knock the system out of balance, surpassing nature’s ability to take our CO2 emissions out of the atmosphere. The oceans and land vegetation are absorbing about half of our emissions; the other half remains airborne for 100 years or longer. This is what is causing the rapid build up of CO2, a build up that dwarfs natural fluctuations.”[1]

The level of Green House gases have risen dramatically after the Industrial and Oil revolution. From having a level of 250 ppm of carbon dioxide released to the atmosphere in 1870, now our planet receives 380 ppm as a result of human activity, and the worst it is expected to come in 20 years when this level raises more than the ceiling of 440 ppm commented by scientists. By that time the earth ecosystems will be badly affected and nothing could be done to reverse these changes in global climate. According to Peter Smith, a professor of sustainable energy at the University of Nottingham: “The rate at which we are emitting now, around 2ppm a year and rising, we could expect that that tipping point will reach us in 20 years time. That gives us 10 years to develop technologies that could start to bite into the problem.”[2]

But it is not only the development of clean technologies what should worry us. The implementation and adoption of technology by Society is another important issue to consider. As an example of the rate of new technology adoption, one should consider the fastest recent case such as the Information and Communication Technologies with the Internet as main flag. The ICT´s and the Internet have been adopted mostly globally in a period of 20 years approximately, however until now, it has not reached the entire globe population yet. If this is extrapolated to new clean technologies, what should be expected of the Society capacity to avoid the Point of No Return or Doomsday tales? Make your own conclusion and act accordingly.

[1] U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration Research, Global Monitoring Division, Accessed 24/03/2007, http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/infodata/faq_cat-1.html#29

[2]News of the British Association Festival of Science. The Guardian, 5/9/2006. Accessed 24/03/2007. http://environment.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,1865081,00.html

Technorati Tags: carbon emissions cause environment protection Global Warming