Climate Change is a Scientific Fact

What to do about it is a political issue

• Core samples from layers of ice laid down over the millennia provide knowledge of the earth’s atmosphere over the last 160,000 years.  Over that period, climate has varied continuously.  The ice ages are an extreme example.  These changes correlate closely with the amount of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the atmosphere and with the earth’s temperature.

• CO₂ is a greenhouse gas, as its presence in the atmosphere traps some of the sun’s energy, causing the atmosphere to warm up slightly.  CO₂ is one of a number of greenhouse gases.  Others include methane and nitrous oxides. Oil, coal, and wood generate a large volume of CO₂ when burned.  Methane is generated by farming, animal husbandry and humans.  Nitrous oxides can be formed by high temperature engines.

• With the industrial revolution, CO₂ in the atmosphere began to slowly increase.  By about 1970, CO2 levels had matched the highest ever found during the previous 160,000 years.  Since 1970, the expansion of man’s activities has increased CO₂ in the atmosphere to record high levels.

• In parallel, average temperatures have increased incrementally, causing a reduction in the polar icecaps and glaciers, leading to a steady but equally incremental annual rise in the level of the world’s oceans.  A large portion of the world’s population lives in cities at sea level.

• Managing the world’s greenhouse gas balance will take more than just reducing mankind’s production of these emissions.  Even if we could eliminate the production of CO2 and other greenhouse gases over the next few years, it would still take a millennia or more for nature through photosynthesis to absorb from the atmosphere the excess greenhouse gases we’ve already emitted.  Therefore, research is required to not only provide alternative sources of energy, but also to find ways to scrub excess greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.

Data from tiny air bubbles trapped in an Antarctic ice core show that atmospheric CO₂ concentrations and temperatures from 160,000 years ago to pre-industrial times are closely correlated.  Direct measurement of CO₂ concentration and temperature in recent decades extend this record to the present day, and confirm that CO₂ concentrations have risen to 360 ppm and temperatures have increased 0.5 degrees C (1 degree F) over the last 100 years.

The greenhouse effect naturally warms the Earth’s surface.  Without it, Earth would be 60 degrees F cooler than it is today – uninhabitable for life as we know it.
 

Low Carbon Fuels – a New Industry?

• The 1973 energy crisis was caused by politics.  The current energy crisis is largely caused by demand outstripping supply.  As the cost of traditional fuels increases, alternatives become economically viable.

• Consumers in the United States and other developed countries are beginning to actively seek alternative fuels and ways to reduce their impact on greenhouse gas emissions.

• Alternative sources of energy include:

  • Synthetic fuels derived from coal and natural gas, but research is required to formulate synthetic fuels with a lower carbon content and little or no CO₂ generation from their production.

  • Fuels produced from agricultural and biological products that do not consume farmland or compete with food production.  For example, algae farmed on the world’s oceans could scrub CO₂ out of the atmosphere and produce a raw material for the production of jet fuel.

  • Indirect use of solar energy through wind farms and hydroelectric generation.

  • Direct use of solar energy through solar cells and by using the sun’s energy to boil water to drive steam turbines.

  • Atomic energy, which remains a means of generating abundant, relatively inexpensive electrical power.

• Increased efficiency in all aspects of life and industry to reduce the energy need can also produce production economies.  Reducing greenhouse gases is thus an activity in which economic growth, commerce, and preservation share a common goal.

• All of these options are the subject of intense research, the results of which likely will produce a whole new energy industry.

The Role of Aerospace

• Over the last century, aviation and space have been a driving force for the creation of new technologies.

• As a transportation industry, aviation has taken a lead in the reduction of greenhouse gases.  On April 22^nd, the world’s aerospace manufacturers, airlines and airports came together to announce a goal of:

  • Being carbon neutral by 2050.

  • Expanding to meet the world’s transportation needs without expanding the emission of greenhouse gases.

These goals are ambitious, will require research, and may well need technological breakthroughs that will then also be available to other industries.

Source: Climate Change State of Knowledge, October 1997