The writing is on the wall.
I have been baffled to find out that some of my friends (‘well educated’ ones too!) aren’t sure about climate change. Ignorance was bliss. As I am someone that is interested in climate change, I find it fascinating speaking to people that don’t share the same views about climate change & global warming.
It’s frustrating that ‘Climate’ has become a topic of political debate. Politics has the power to drive an incentivise change, when done right. But, modern politics is divisive, sews misinformation, and muddies the water. To me, Global warming is a science driven phenomenon. It should no longer be a contentious issue, that is muddied through political wish wash. The result of this, is that people don’t know who, or what to believe.
?As the saying goes, “where there is smoke, there is fire.”
?Over the past few months, records have been shattered all around – global surface temperature, polar ice melt, glacial ice melt, coral bleaching, hurricanes, floods, the list goes on.
?When every alarm bell is going off, simultaneously, chances are, there is something wrong.
?If you’re unsure about climate change/global warming, here is some info which have helped me see separate fact from fiction.
Carbon in the atmosphere:
?Over the last 100 odd years, carbon in the atmosphere has increased from around 300 parts per million (ppm), to ±425ppm today.
Some key facts are:
·?????? Atmospheric CO2 is 150% of 1750 levels [NASA]
·?????? Annual CO2 emissions have increased from 11bn metric tonnes in ‘60s to over 36bn metric tonnes in 2023. [Climate.gov]
·?????? The rate of increase over the last 60 years is 100 times faster than previous natural increases (The end of the last ice age 11,000-17,000 years ago).
?Increasing emissions and thus, carbon in the atmosphere has caused the global temperatures to rise, due to the greenhouse effect.
What is striking here, is both, how much higher the current carbon levels are, and how quickly they have increased to these levels.
Previous changes to the climate have occurred over thousands of years, allowing life on earth to adapt over time. The difference now, is that these changes have happened over 100 years. There is no time for natural adaptation. This appears instantaneous on the graph above. ?
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Temperature on the rise:
?Take a look at the below graph, which shows the average temperature since the 1880s.
From looking at this, its pretty clear that over the last 150 years, the average annual temperature has increased by nearly 1.5°C.
CO2 & Temperature:
?The below image shows the temperature rise (above) overlaid with the increase in atmospheric carbon.
Here, the causal relationship between atmospheric carbon and global temperatures is pretty obvious.
Records continue to fall. When everything is pointing towards Global warming, it’s probably happening. ?
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Impacts of rising temperatures:
?Sudden changes to the environment will throw the earth’s systems out of balance. You might be thinking ‘so what if the earth is a couple degrees warmer’.
Think of the Earth not as a room which we’re in, where it gets a little uncomfortable if you turn the Aircon up a couple of degrees, ?but as a system more like a human body. ?Our body’s systems are intricately connected, and sensitive to minor changes – the same goes for the Earth. When your temperature increases by 1.5°C -2°C , you get a fever and feel sick. If it increases much more than that,? the situation gets dire your vital systems stop functioning as they are supposed to. The same applies to the Earth.
When we warm it up a couple of degrees, the oceans will warm, causing weather systems to go out of sync. We will get more intense and more frequent ‘extreme weather events’ (Floods, droughts, hurricanes), which will have significant economic costs and implications for agriculture and food security.
Carbon Budget:
?How much CO2 can the world emit while keeping warming below 1.5°C and 2°C? The answer is – not very much.
At current levels of emissions, some say that the window for 1.5°C will close before 2030.
This highlights the importance and urgency of the situation. We need to act fast.
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It is estimated that fossil fuel emissions would have to be reduced by around 80% to stop the growth of atmospheric CO2. [NOAA] [National Academies Press / Climate Stabilization Targets].
Remember, at ±425ppm we are already wayyy above normal levels of atmospheric carbon. If we limit warming to 1.5-2°C , atmospheric carbon will be between 507 ppm and 618 ppm.[Median concentrations, IPCC, AR5 report].
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It’s not all doom and gloom, there is plenty to say that we can save the earth from the worst of the apocalyptic scenarios. All it takes is for more of us to start thinking about climate and being carbon conscious in our everyday lives.
Knowledge is power.
Arming yourself with the right information is the first step to understanding the climate and will enable you to make better decisions. It starts with you.
?If you are interested in any of this, or would like some more detail, here are some links to websites which are full of information.
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Copernicus Climate Change Service
?NASA – Climate
?Climate.gov
Senior Consultant at Baringa in Power & Low Carbon Solutions
3 个月That first line is calling out Chris Trenchard
Investor Relations Manager at Hatronika
3 个月Interning read Grogs! Thanks for sharing