Climate change
Since the Industrial Revolution societies have been releasing carbon from underground coal and oil reserves. In this time about 175 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) have been added to the atmosphere. With another six billion tonnes being added to this with every year that passes, we are looking at a 31% increase in CO2 in the atmosphere since 1750.
Whilst some say we worry too much about climate change - that these things 'just go in cycles', the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) believes that “our present CO2 concentration has never been higher - certainly not during these past 420,000 years and probably not for the past 20 million years.”
About one quarter of annual global CO2 emissions are due to fossil fuel burning. Obviously ways must be be found to prevent this situation continuing, and preferably ways that are based on sound economic principle.
Forests play an important role in regulating the earth'’s temperature and weather patterns by storing large quantities of carbon and water. It is imperative, therefore, that the CO2 currently stored in carbon reservoirs is maintained. At the same time we need to set about creating new forest carbon sinks that will, over time, reach equilibrium and become carbon reservoirs.
Whilst some say we worry too much about climate change - that these things 'just go in cycles', the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) believes that “our present CO2 concentration has never been higher - certainly not during these past 420,000 years and probably not for the past 20 million years.”
About one quarter of annual global CO2 emissions are due to fossil fuel burning. Obviously ways must be be found to prevent this situation continuing, and preferably ways that are based on sound economic principle.
Forests play an important role in regulating the earth'’s temperature and weather patterns by storing large quantities of carbon and water. It is imperative, therefore, that the CO2 currently stored in carbon reservoirs is maintained. At the same time we need to set about creating new forest carbon sinks that will, over time, reach equilibrium and become carbon reservoirs.
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