The Man writes...by coincidence on the evening before the annual Earth Day I was at a lecture about Climate Change. Presented by a Harvard Professor of Atmospheric Science, and aimed at a non-technical audience, it focussed on greenhouse gases, past, present and future.
As most people know, global carbon emissions are increasing exponentially and the level of CO2 in the atmosphere is 35% higher than at any other time in the last 400,000 years. This American speaker stressed to his overwhelmingly American audience that the per capita emissions in the USA are double the Japan/Europe average, five times China's emissions, and fifteen times India's.
In what seemed to me to be an overly generous nod towards climate sceptics, the speaker stated that there is no certainty in climate prediction, just as you cannot predict whether a particular heavy smoker will contract lung cancer. However, he did concede the moral dimension: carbon emissions come from rich countries but the negative effects of climate change will be experienced disproportionately by the world's poor. And what risks should we be prepared to expose our children and grandchildren to as a result of our actions?
Plenty to ponder, but was it worth the twelve mile round trip?
I remember whenI was young just over 300,000 years ago we didnt have to worry about CO2.Cars and electricity hadnt been invented and there wasnt much to watch on t/v as there was only BBC 1.We got our exercise from chasing Bisons and then drawing them on the wall of our council cave Ah!the good old days before this government!
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