Reproduced from my Atkins blog article of 18.11.2011
“The big thing we are working on now the global warming hoax. It’s all voodoo, nonsense hokum, a hoax.”
Michele Bachmann, candidate for the Republican nomination for US President, 2008.
Know: Other pollutants are cooling the planet.
Don’t Know: How great our cooling effects are.
Know: The planet is going to get a lot hotter.
Don’t know: Exactly how much hotter things will get.
Don’t know: How the climate will change in specific regions.
Know: Sea level is going to rise many metres.
Don’t know: How quickly sea level will rise.
Don’t know: How serious a threat global warming is to life.
Know: There will be more floods and droughts.
Don’t know: Whether there will be more hurricanes and the like.
Don’t know: If and when tipping points will be reached.
“The big thing we are working on now the global warming hoax. It’s all voodoo, nonsense hokum, a hoax.”
Michele Bachmann, candidate for the Republican nomination for US President, 2008.
There were two
great articles in New Scientist on 22 and 29 October, tackling what we know
about climate change, and the rise of science rejectionism (my word). If you get
your science from the Daily Mail or Fox News you often are told that climate
change is not understood and thus should be doubted. As New Scientist
notes:
Know: Greenhouse
gases are warming the planet.
Don’t know: How far
greenhouse gas levels will rise.Know: Other pollutants are cooling the planet.
Don’t Know: How great our cooling effects are.
Know: The planet is going to get a lot hotter.
Don’t know: Exactly how much hotter things will get.
Don’t know: How the climate will change in specific regions.
Know: Sea level is going to rise many metres.
Don’t know: How quickly sea level will rise.
Don’t know: How serious a threat global warming is to life.
Know: There will be more floods and droughts.
Don’t know: Whether there will be more hurricanes and the like.
Don’t know: If and when tipping points will be reached.
We don’t actually
understand gravity either. It could be a particle, or a wave, but favourite is
that is a distortion in multi-dimensional space time.
Despite not
understanding it the advice remains ‘don’t jump off tall
buildings’.
The list of
‘Know/Don’t Know’ above makes it clear we need to act to reduce our impact on
the climate. We can’t stop it but we can mitigate.
Personal actions I
have taken to get ahead of the inevitable changes to the economy:
- I sold my house from 1870 (an energy nightmare) and have bought a flat from 2003 (much more efficient and hence will keep its value better).
- When I reinvested the balance in property to let I turned down options near sea level as once public opinion realises the inevitable they will instantly become worthless.
