Climate Change

 Climate Change

• Politics of global warming

It takes government bodies to pass policies to have a notable effect on global warming i.e. 5p non-reusable bag charge

Scottish Government have a 2050 target where Scottish Ministers must ensure that net emissions are less than 80% of the baseline by 2050.

• Global warming and the weather

Climate is measured over a period of time, typically 30 years, whereas weather varies day to day.

• Action on climate change

Charities, government action, organisations e.g. WWF

As a fan of green energy and someone who aims to keep their carbon footprint as small as possible I really enjoyed this lecture. Although global warming is a well-known issue it isn’t at the forefront of most people’s minds, as Louise said it’s not a direct in-your-face problem thus making it slip down priority lists. One point that stuck with me was discussing human induced global warming skeptics – it baffles me that there are people who disagree with scientific facts and figures. Although climate is measured over a time frame it’s not so long a time frame that people will experience it in their lifetimes, those of the older generations will have experienced the difference in climate present day as to when they were younger. It is somewhat fair to speculate that some of the change can be natural but with the trends of human invention and effects on climate it cannot be ignored that there is a correlation.

In regards to practice for global warming to climb the hierarchy of priorities I think it is important to emphasis the effects of it and one way to do this is to make it more direct, real and personal. When I was in high school and we were discussing global warming I remember being shown a map of the effects of the rise in sea levels on the town I lived in. Being a coastal town there were entire areas that would be submerged (I fondly remember that my house would still be above water) which made the issue closer to home. I think there needs to be a mild degree of fear/worry put into the children for the information to stick without it being damaging which I feel would be achievable with the upper end of a primary school. The video as well of the changing CO2 levels throughout the year that Andrew showed was incredibly interesting as well as it showed where the majority of CO2 gases came from in the world and how it moves.

Following the discussion of skeptics there was a recent Q&A panel including skeptic Australian Senator and Brian Cox debating global warming a few weeks ago that I watched which is incredibly interesting hearing from a skeptic (albeit the Justin Beiber joke that went down like a lead balloon).

As well as this, I wasn’t aware of the Kyoto Protocol beforehand. The tensions from developing countries not wanting to contribute due to the lack of responsibility claimed by the bigger powers who have caused the current state is understandable and the on-going choice of the US refusing to join is interesting and I would quite like to follow how it develops.

Learning Log

From the WWF website it calculated that my carbon footprint is 89%, under the UK average, however still not entirely great. My biggest downfall is within the home, since I live in a rented flat I don’t have much control in making it more energy friendly in terms of solar panels and adding extra insulation. In other categories I fare rather well as my main mode of transport is cycling, I buy my fruit and vegetables from a local farmer, I turn my lights off when I’m not in the room and try to encourage my flatmate to do so and opt to put on a jumper instead of turning up the heating. I was, and still am, a big fan of the 5p carrier bag charge, not only does the money taken go towards local causes but it is a green movement that had an almost instant change on the environment. The number of rogue plastic bags flying around the street dropped and was evident for all to see. Changes like these will help getting the public to see the difference and will hopefully encourage them to back the longer-term plans and goals.