AMELIA GUY-MEAKIN researches some of the facts behind climate change and gives an overview of the outcome of the recent Copenhagen Summit.
Climate change is one the most complex issues facing the world today, posing a critical threat to human society and to the natural environment. But what is climate change? Why is it happening and is it the same as global warming?
What is climate change?
The earth's temperature and weather pattern has fluctuated naturally over time. Variability in the planet's orbit alters its distance from the sun, which in the past has given rise to major ice ages and intervening warmer periods. Climate change sceptics claim modern-day climate anomalies are a continuation of such fluctuations - Sceptics also contend a climate treaty would hurt economic growth as climate change runs counter to modern capitalist economics and western consumerism. But successive scientific reports, notably those provided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), conclude it is more than 90 percent probable that man is responsible for this phenomenon.
Climate change predominantly results from the burning of fossil fuels - coal, oil and gas. The resulting CO2 emissions, added to the CO2 present naturally in the earth's atmosphere, trap unwarranted amounts of the sun's energy, warming the earth's surface. Deforestation and processes which release other greenhouse gases, such as methane, from agriculture and industry also contribute. Consequently, average temperatures around the world rise - known as global warming - affecting rainfall patterns, ocean currents, night and day temperatures and rising sea levels. In time, new disease epidemics, food shortages - especially wheat harvests - and enormous ecological disasters are predicted.
Should you be worried?
Absolutely. Recent extreme weather conditions in the United Kingdom, Europe and North America, where temperatures dipped to record lows, have come hand-in-hand with drought in Australia and Africa, and out-of-season hurricanes elsewhere - a sure sign the world has something to worry about.
With all the talk about temperature increases and irreversible damage, many hoped the messianic Copenhagen gathering would "save the planet". Representatives from 192 nations convened in December 2009 to discuss climate change mitigation beyond 2012. However, what many had "hopenhagened" for didn't happen and clumsy agreements resulted.
In the Summit's aftermath, opinions have been varied. Most argue the gathering demonstrated the potential of the world to address transnational concerns is limited. Given national interests reign supreme, it remains a strenuous political process for developing and developed nations to come to a consensus. In Copenhagen, the developed world - historic producers of the majority of the world's greenhouse gases - insisted rising powers such as China, India and Brazil would also have to accept limits, a position those nations adamantly rejected.
What did transpire from the Summit was an agreement that real issues - overpopulation, overconsumption and global and intergenerational inequity and injustice - exist. This is perhaps why US President, Barrack Obama rendered the Summit a "meaningful" start. A global Copenhagen Accord to keep the world's temperature rise within two degrees Celsius at preindustrial levels was pledged. While this does imply some cuts to greenhouse gas emissions, the levels remain far above scientists' recommendations to halve carbon emissions by 2050.
The Accord specifies a system for monitoring and reporting progress towards national goals. Rich nations must identify individual emissions' targets and poor countries must list the actions they'll take to reduce growth in their pollution. The agreement calls for rich countries to give poor countries US$30 billion in emergency assistance over the next three years, with the long-term goal of jointly mobilising US$100 billion every year by 2020. These funds are targeted to help poor nations deal with the consequences of global warming, as well as provide incentives for reducing emissions. However, what remains critically lacking is a legally-binding treaty - the Accord is a mere baby-step towards tackling climate change. But it is a step nonetheless.
Arctic Facts
- Arctic ice-caps have shrunk by 10 percent every year for the past 25 years.
- 50 cubic metres of water runs into the sea every second - an Olympic-sized swimming pool in less than a minute!
- In 2009 a 37 kilometre ice-island broke-off the Arctic ice cap.
- Sea ice plays a role in regulating the climate. It reflects light, whereas the dark Arctic Ocean absorbs light. As sea ice melts more sunlight is absorbed, because more of the Arctic Ocean is exposed. This is an example of a feedback loop - a situation where warming causes yet more warming to occur.
- As temperatures rise, permafrost melts. This sends trapped methane into the atmosphere, exacerbating warming and causing even more permafrost to melt - yet another feedback loop.
For more information, visit www.greenpeace.org and www.bbc.co.uk
Posted Feb 2010
