A Solution for Climate Change

Climate Change - Cause and Effects

One only needs to glance at the headlines to the see that coverage of climate change and global warming is becoming a daily event.  There is now consensus among the scientific community that the world is warming as a result of human activities, and that this warming is accelerating.  The primary cause is emissions of carbon dioxide (CO₂) and other green house gases' (GHGs), primarily from energy production, other industrial process and transportation.  GHGs act to trap solar heat in the atmosphere and raise global surface temperatures.  Reducing the amount of CO₂ released in the atmosphere is arguably the greatest challenge modern society has yet to meet.

In February 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (http://www.ipcc.ch/) released a summary of the Physical Science Basis for Climate Change as part of its Fourth Assessment Report on climate change.  The report brought together the work of over 2,500 scientists and is considered the definitive scientific assessment of climate change by governments and other policy makers worldwide.

In brief, the findings of the report are as follows:

• Warming of the climate system is unequivocal;
• The global rise in temperatures since 1750 was very likely' (90% probability) the result of human activities;
• The primary source of increased carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere since pre-industrial times has resulted from the use of fossil fuels;
• Significant adverse changes in weather patterns have been observed, consistent with increased global temperatures including longer and more intense droughts and greater frequency of heavy precipitation events in certain areas;
• There is evidence of an increase in intense hurricane activity in the Atlantic ocean since 1970 correlated with increased surface sea temperatures in tropical areas;
• Given a business as usual' approach, global surface temperatures are projected to rise a further  2 to 4.5 °C by 2100, likely leading to increased extreme weather events, melting polar ice and rising sea levels.

The effects of climate change are particularly evident when looking at economic losses due to extreme weather events. As shown below, uninsured and insured dollar losses rose dramatically during the second half of the 20^th century.  A sharp rise in the number of extreme events from 13 in the 1950s to 72 in the 1990s has resulted in a near exponential increase in corresponding losses.

Global Costs of Extreme Weather Events

As climate change becomes more pronounced in the years to come, it is highly likely that there will be increasingly negative effects.