Doha Climate Change Conference

Once again another climate change conference has concluded without there being any real progress. The world has not decided to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide. In fact there is going to be an increase. In the foreseeable future there is no hope of us gaining control of our emissions and mitigating the probable dangerous effects of climate change.

http://us.oneworld.net/doha?gclid=CMzkg-vJj7QCFW3KtAod2ykAnQ

Consider this: since the industrial revolution the amount carbon dioxide  in the atmosphere has increased by  200 billion tons. It is a fact that carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas.

Between the end of the last glacial period, about 18,000 years ago, and the the start of the industrial revolution nature exchanged 200 billion tons of carbon dioxide between the oceans and the atmosphere. Nature had added a considerable quantity of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere but with only  minimal intervention from  mankind.

It took a long time, but this addition of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere was sufficient to melt most  the ice covering the northern parts of  Europe and Asia and to raise sea levels by tens of metres. However, during the 18,000 years since the last glacial period the earth returned three or four times back into glacial conditions and come out of them again.

The inter glacial period looks as though it is now fully established. Or is it?

During the Younger Dryas, about 13,000 years ago, the earth suddenly went back into full ice age conditions for a period of about 1,300 years. When the earth returned again, to inter glacial conditions, the change only took 50 to 70 years.

Three possible causes of the return to ice age conditions 13,000 years ago have been posited: a huge influx of freshwater into the North Atlantic, a volcano which emitted billions of tons of dust into the atmosphere or a large meteorite hitting the earth.

Whatever the cause, nature alone was able to change the climate and weather very suddenly. Adding an extra 200 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere will not be without consequence. But, the consequence might not be the gradual and uniform  increase in  temperatures as predicted at the climate change conferences. We could be faced with the possibility of changes to the global distribution of heat.

The northern regions of the planet could cool down whilst the tropics heat up even more. Global average temperatures would still continue to increase. A slight change to the global heat distribution of the planet could suddenly initiate temporary ice age conditions in the northern hemisphere.

The quick onset of ice age conditions could be more dangerous than rising sea levels. How deep are your water pipes buried?

We are just as much a part of nature as any other creature and one could claim that what is happening to the atmosphere is perfectly natural. We are, however, the only creatures who can foresee the consequences of our own actions. The trouble is the damage we have already done to our own interests may now be irreversible.

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/abrupt/data4.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Younger_Dryas