CLIMATE CHANGE OVERVIEW
Climate Change and CO2 – The Basics
Scientists have ascertained that the current period of global warming is certainly caused by human generated build up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
These gases (of which CO2 is by far the most abundant) are created by the use of fossil fuels (such as coal, oil and gas) to create the energy required to power the earth’s homes, factories, warehouses, airplanes, trucks, cars, smelters and office blocks.
As greenhouse gases accumulate in the atmosphere, they
trap heat that would otherwise be radiated away from earth, and in turn,
have the ability to increase average temperatures across the globe.
Evidence of the negative effect of the climate change caused by these greenhouse gas emissions mounts everyday. Prognoses of the effect of a continued global increase in temperatures include:
- The threatened extinction of many of the world’s animal species, including Arctic Polar Bears
- The bleaching and disintegration of coral reefs, including large sections of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.
- An increase in natural phenomena such as salinity, water shortages, drought, cyclone and flood, and
- The continued disintegration of polar ice caps, generating higher water temperatures and subsequent rising of the world’s oceans to a point where many highly populated cities may be uninhabitable
(Source: The Weather Makers, Tim Flannery, The Text Publishing Company, Melbourne, 2005)
Outside Links
www.ipcc.ch - The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
