Dear Editor,
Re: Climate ‘Hoax’
I suppose it is more comfortable to ignore that Earth’s climate is changing and our planet is getting worryingly warmer. But like the ostrich, if we can’t see the danger, maybe it will go away.
Let’s look at some facts . More energy from the sun falls on Earth’s surface in just one hour, than is used by all human activities in one year! We have known about the greenhouse effect since the 19th century. If there were no greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere, the earth would be a giant snowball. The more GHG, such as carbon dioxide or methane, that we put in the atmosphere, the more energy that is coming from the sun, is trapped. If there is too much GHG in the atmosphere, we get fried, just like on Venus where heat trapping gases have raised the temperature high enough to melt lead. Scientists think that a ‘safe’ level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is about 350 ppm, whereas the current level has risen above 400 ppm.
The extra energy that is being trapped by the greenhouse effect doesn’t just sit there, it warms the oceans, the land and the air. For thousands of years the global temperature was one Celsius degree cooler than it is currently. Even at the hottest of the Medieval warm period, the temperature was half a Celsius degree cooler than at present. This extra energy powers more ferocious storms, melts ice (sea levels have risen about 7 inches since 1900), changes weather patterns (rainfall in southwestern Ontario has shifted to eastern Ontario and has changed from more evenly distributed rainfall to downpours with long dry periods between), and changes ocean currents – the Atlantic Gulf Stream used to deliver warm tropical water up to northern Europe but is now circulating in a more southerly pattern, and as a result, northern European weather is much cooler than it used to be. And it looks like the Earth’s average temperature will rise at least 1.5 or maybe 2 Celsius degrees above pre-industrial temperatures! To put this in perspective, ask your doctor what the health effects would be, if your body temperature were 1.5 to 2 Celsius degrees above normal for an indefinite period of time!
If we continue to pump more GHG into the atmosphere, the increase in trapped energy will make us increasingly “uncomfortable”. I hope we can pull our heads out of the sand before it is too late!
Ron Moore
Hillsburgh ON
Ron Moore