If You Can't Stop It...

The British Government mentioned a crucial global warming "tipping point" last week; which presumably is what makes the matter worthy of notice by the Independent. The Independent's research "reveals that the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has now crossed a threshold, set down by scientists from around the world at a conference in Britain last year, beyond which really dangerous climate change is likely to be unstoppable." This threshold is "a rise in global mean temperatures to 2 degrees above the level before the Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century." At the present juncture, when the world's biggest polluter is just about capable of admitting that global warming is taking place, "global mean temperatures have risen to about 0.6 degrees above the pre-industrial era". A rise to two degrees will cause sea levels to rise by several metres and agricultural yields to fall, "putting up to 200 million more people at risk from hunger, and up to 2.8 billion additional people at risk of water shortages for both drinking and irrigation."

The implication of the Independent's research is that "some of global warming's worst predicted effects, from destruction of ecosystems to increased hunger and water shortages for billions of people, cannot now be avoided, whatever we do." More interestingly still, given that comparatively few of those billions will be readers of the Independent or consumers of its sponsors' products, is "the fact that the 'aerosol', or band of dust in the atmosphere from industrial pollution, actually reduces the warming ... in the event of an industrial downturn, the aerosol could fall out of the atmosphere in a matter of weeks, and then the effect of all the greenhouse gases taken together would suddenly be fully felt."

Not only is the destruction impossible to avert; a cut in industrial pollution might actually exacerbate it. Perhaps you should buy that new car after all; indeed, in the circumstances, any effort to reform your consumer habits would be a simple abrogation of your responsibilities towards the planet. And anyway, by tomorrow the Independent will have found something else to talk about.