despite the noise about uncertainty in
the political arena warming will
actually save lives not endanger them
do I believe scientists know the
fundamentals of climate change have been
understood by scientists for decades to
start with there are naturally occurring
gases such as carbon dioxide and methane
in the Earth's atmosphere in themselves
they aren't bad in fact we need them in
limited quantities to keep our
atmosphere at just the right temperature
for life as we know it to exist on earth
but if we produce an excess of these
gases as we have the temperature rises
as it has if you want you can replicate
this effect yourself in a simple lab
experiment here's how take two identical
bottles and set them side-by-side put a
thermometer in each bottle and seal them
then run a hose from a source of co2
into one of the bottles shine two heat
lamps of equal intensity at equal
distance onto each one within minutes
you will see the temperature of the
bottle with the carbon dioxide in it
rising faster and higher the bottles are
like our atmosphere the lamps are like
our Sun most of the solar radiation
reaching the earth is absorbed by the
surface and atmosphere which in turn
radiates energy out toward space as
infrared energy heat most of the heat
energy from the surface is then absorbed
by the greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere and radiated back down toward
the surface the more greenhouse gases we
create the more heat is absorbed and
sent back towards the surface to cause
further warming this recycled heat does
more than bump up the thermometer warm
air has the capacity to hold more
moisture and water vapor is itself a
greenhouse gas so there's even more
warming which means the planet's entire
hydrological cycle the water cycle is
affected more evaporation more
precipitation
more extremes in general for nearly a
million years the co2 content of the
atmosphere moved within a natural
bandwidth but during the Industrial
Revolution humans started burning fossil
fuels and increasingly large amounts in
fact now we that's around seven billion
of us rely on carbon-based fuels for 85
percent of our energy humans currently
produce around 35 billion tons of carbon
dioxide every year about 55 percent of
that is absorbed by the ocean land and
vegetation while the rest remains in the
atmosphere most of that excess comes
from burning fossil fuels and more than
half of the emissions come from power
plants and factories while about a third
comes from our various forms of
transportation if we continue the
current trajectory by the time our
children reach middle age the levels of
atmospheric co2 will reach twice that of
our planets long time natural levels
that is why we're already seeing the
temperature increase and we're already
seeing the consequences four percent
more moisture in the atmosphere above
the ocean is enough to transition to a
new normal dramatic weather events
floods storms droughts fires they're all
happening at a frequency and intensity
we've never experienced throughout human
history
in other words climate change we've set
this chain in motion but the truly
cataclysmic changes can be prevented if
we act now carbon dioxide is not a
harmful gas it is a harmless gas the
first step is to separate fact from
fiction this climate science is no
longer a matter of opinion politics or
dogma so let's not let a few dirty
energy companies fool us or slow us down
there are now increasing numbers of
affordable clean tech energy sources all
available to us and limitless supply by
embracing them we
create jobs and improve the economy the
current climate crisis is reality
we can't wish it away what we can do is
cease the debate and the denial and move
on to solutions together