A Warmer World

Photo courtesy of Barbara Summey, NASA Goddard Visualization Analysis Lab, based upon data processed by Takmeng Wong, CERES Science Team, NASA Langley Research Center Global warming? This false-colour image of the Earth produced in 2001 by NASA's Terra spacecraft shows where more or less heat, in the form of longwave radiation, is emanating from the top of Earth?s atmosphere.

Global warming has been all over the news these days. A recent study by NASA, Columbia University and the University of California at Santa Barbara has shown that the world has been the warmest it's ever been in the last 12,000 years and that it's a result of rapid warming over the past 30 years. The film An Inconvenient Truth about Al Gore's campaign against climate change is out in cinemas and there are countless articles dismissing the idea that climate change could be caused by natural fluctuations in the Earth's climate. Most importantly, many people are asking if we are doomed, if it's something we should accept and adapt to, or if there is still anything we can do to slow the damage.

In short, rising temperatures seem to be caused by human activities which have increased the levels of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere. Emissions from cars, planes and industry and cutting down forests are some of the culprits. Although some carbon dioxide is necessary to trap the sun's heat in our atmosphere and create a liveable climate, too much of it results in too much heat being trapped and the world becomes a warmer place.

Environmentalists have been harping on about it for ages, but I've never been able to take it completely seriously. I've had too many environmental activists waving flyers in my face and asking me to toss a few coins in a basket for it to seem completely scientific. I recycle and buy environmentally-friendly products when I can, because it seems to make sense and has now become a habit.

A few years ago, I was in Toronto during a heat wave in the summer and it suddenly struck me that it was a very unnatural heat. I had just been to Brazil, living in what felt like a natural tropical climate, and in comparison Toronto was stifling, smoggy and the air was so humid that sometimes it was hard to breathe. This year, the month of September in London has been almost tropical - we've had hot summer temperatures the whole month. Although I am a fan of the heat, it's London after all and supposed to be grey and dreary all the time.