320th
Meeting – Tuesday, February 9th 2010
New Strategies to
Stop Global
Warming
A talk and presentation by Dr. Michael
Tuckson
Present:
Joup Schillemans, James Emmanuel Bogle, Klaus Berkmüller, Adrian
Pieper, Sjon Hauser, Richard Nelson-Jones, David James & Mangkhoot,
David
Steane, Patricia Cheesman, Susan Morgan, Kunakorn Boonsai, Dianne and
Mark
Barber-Riley, Oliver Hargreave, Reinhard Hohler, John Cadet, Suttida
Sudadokfah, Duanpen Chaladlam, Natthirah Kramer, Daniel Bellamy, Anna
Willen,
Chris White, Joel Akins, Bodil Blokker. An audience of 25 plus probably
six
more who didn’t sign in.
Global warming and climate change will affect everyone’s future, possibly in a devastating way. It is a highly complex topic, and based on difficult science, making it hard to understand. Moreover, the solutions require significant sacrifices in the lives of people in the modern sectors. This has given rise to widespread resistance, resulting in mental denial of the truth of the science. Perhaps the greatest immediate threats to our wellbeing and even existence are the widespread ignorance of thermal inertia, feedbacks and tipping points in surface earth systems, together with the power of finance. It is hopeful that deniers are not simply selfish, but have blocked learning about the latest climate science, and are thus open to dialogue or subtle education. Change will be made much easier if the pain is shared.
Rapid
Meeting Survey
To give me some idea of the audience’s feeling, they were asked to choose the closest option to their thought and action about global warming from a range of 15 alternatives. One person denied the Earth is warming. Four said they were sceptical that we can stop the warming as society is not up to it, and one didn’t know enough to express an opinion. Five said they were pessimistic that we can stop it but were willing to try and help, one said she was studying the issue, but not yet active. One knew a lot but was inactive as had no time, one was occasionally activist, but not sure of the best strategy in Chiang Mai, and four were activist with an ongoing programme. Total of 18. I think several didn’t volunteer an answer.
Climate Science
Global warming is not
just global warming but a rise of climate extremes and sea invasion.
The rainy areas
will
experience bigger floods and the drier areas more severe droughts. Some
areas
will experience more extreme heat waves and associated forest fires,
while some
will become more stormy. James Hansen in his book Storms of My
Grandchildren
(2008) points out that the melting ice sheets will result in more
icebergs that
will in turn raise the ocean temperature gradient between the tropics
and the
polar regions, causing stronger storms.
We are now entering a
condition best described as the climate emergency for four reasons.
First, the
climate is changing more rapidly. Second, earth inertia and feedback
are better
understood. Third, we are mentally and physically set in a complex
system,
hideously difficult to change, amounting to social inertia. Fourth,
resistance
and denial have been promoted by extremists, and are spreading through
the
traditional and online media to ordinary people. Some hope is provided
by Paul
Ray’s (2003) analysis of the growing cultural movement, notably
in the
I have described denial (skepticism is mainly a front term) as a virus as it is evolving with the progress in science and the worsening conditions, changing from denying the warming, to denying the human dominance, to denying its importance. It also uses increasingly aggressive techniques, from claiming scientific uncertainty to claiming scientific fraud. It has recently begun jumping on individual errors to claim a global collective error. Climate science is a difficult subject, but if your knowledge is limited it is easy to misunderstand and be misled by the ill informed and the devious. In discussions about global warming, climate science must come first. We must all be able to counter the cherry picking, apparent misunderstandings, distortions and downright lies of the deniers, both from the ‘leaders’ or seniors and the devious and innocent followers. The devious focus on the science as they know most people do not understand. So all concerned must rise to the challenge, and the challenge must be seen to be global, not simply local. The challenge now will have to be smarter just as medicine must rise to face evolving viruses and bacteria. This is the first strategy. It is worth noting that science is never a total consensus, but has levels of consensus that change over time and vary with exact topic.
Following are six points that
can be used
to counter deniers. One
good way is to show
then-and-now photos of glaciers and Arctic ice. The NASA GISS
temperature data
trend shows clearly that the Earth is warming even with yearly or two
yearly
oscillations driven by the ocean (GISS website). The last decade has
been the
warmest for thousands of years. From 1945 to 1975 the northern
hemisphere
warming was slowed by sulphate aerosol pollution, but in the less
developed and
ocean dominated south, aerosol pollution had less effect (IPCC 1977).
Deniers
cannot explain this. Climate models that include the natural and human
factors
explain the average warming best (Stott et al., 2000). Solar
radiation changes by 1 percent over the 11 year cycle, but over the
last two
decades has on average been cooling to steady while the earth has
warmed
considerably. That other proposed extra-terrestrial influence, cosmic rays, that also oscillate, have been
shown to be unrelated to the formation of clouds that might cause
warming (JE
Kristjansson et al., 2008).
Critical Concepts
Three
useful concepts measure the influence of the
GHGs and dusts and aerosols. The instantaneous changed influence of
each
greenhouse gas and dust is called Radiative Forcing. This is
the changed
influence since the beginning of the industrial revolution due to
increased
concentration. Some dispute between scientists is evident over the
quantities
for each substance. Carbon dioxide equivalent is a summation of
forcing
of six GHGs recognized by
Global Warming
Potential (GWP) is the influence over time into the future compared
with carbon
dioxide. Carbon dioxide concentration falls to half in about 24 years
and half
that again in about 140 years (Hansen et al 2007). In contrast, methane
has a
half life of seven years, meaning an emission at one time declines in
concentration by one half in seven years. Its GWP is thus only high for
the
first few years after emission. Some researchers are calling for more
attention
to be put on methane and other short-lived GHGs and dusts partly
because of
their high short-term GWP{Mohr (2005) Goodland and Anhang (2009) and
Molina et al
(2009). GHGs spread world-wide.
In contrast the dusts
and aerosols are regional. Black carbon soot is prevalent in poor rural regions such
as
It is useful to have at least a rudimentary knowledge of the carbon cycle in the surface earth system, as deniers use the poor popular understanding to confuse. Carbon is found mainly in four Earth stores, the atmosphere, forests, soil and ocean. Much carbon moves back and forth between the atmosphere and the other three, maintaining a rough balance. The human contribution by fossil fuel burning and forest clearing is annually only a small proportion of these flows, but a critical one, as over decades it is building the concentration in the atmosphere to dangerous levels and destroying the former balance. The other three stores cannot cope with the atmospheric increase although they take in some.
Because of thermal inertia in surface Earth systems, carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere, now at 387 ppm, guarantees another 0.5 to 0.6 degrees of warming. We are now virtually at 1.3 -1.4 degrees above, not 0.8 (Hansen et al., 2005). This means that if we cannot capture the excess carbon dioxide already in the air, we are guaranteed a sea level rise of at least 4 metres and probably much more, based on the experience of Earth history. Glikson (2008) notes that about 120,000 years ago sea levels rose about 6-8 metres above present levels due to a rise of about one degree above present levels. Thus, we must not only stop emissions, but plant hundreds of millions of trees and store the carbon grown in building and biochar. This requires a massive global education programme.
Surface earth system
feedbacks are already operating, but if they become dominant, Earth
will warm
beyond human control to at least 6 degrees, causing climate change too
severe
for most humans and other organisms to survive. Feedbacks of three
types (at
least) are relevant. The first is fast amplifying (positive, warming)
feedback.
Since early industrial times, increasing evaporation from a warming
ocean has
been causing increased water vapour in the atmosphere causing further
warming. It
is now thought that water vapour might be causing 30 percent of warming
overall. The second is slow amplifying feedback’ such as methane
released from
permafrost, but which is already starting. An example of negative or
cooling feedback,
is desert dust reflecting sunlight (Hansen et al., 2008). Climate
scientists
are sure that amplifying warming feedbacks will dominate cooling ones.
Tipping points and
irreversibility are two other critical concepts. A tipping point occurs
when a change
is qualitatively different and usually, but not always, faster than the
cause.
The change is often described as non-linear, meaning really not in a straight
line. They are important in large biophysical regions, systems or
elements such
as a large forest region or ice sheet. Tipping tends to, but not
necessarily, lead
to irreversibility (Lenton, 2007, Copenhagen Diagnosis, 2009).
The significance
of tipping points is that they tend to make the environmental
degradation
process both faster and harder to reverse.
Palaeo-climates
Studying Earth’s
climate history is making an increasing contribution to climate
science. Including feedback in climate
models is difficult, but
palaeo-climatic change includes feedbacks such as the rise of water
vapour or
carbon dioxide in the observed changes, and can elucidate the long-term
carbon
cycle. The Earth’s surface has
generally been cooling even though the sun is getting brighter very
slowly.
This is due to the increased storage of carbon dioxide in limestone,
and
sedimentary rocks high in plant carbon, buried deep in the earth.
Major cold-warm Earth
cycles covering 100 or 200 million years are due to plate tectonics.
Sustained
volcanic and related events cause emission of carbon dioxide that
result in
long warm periods, while the burial of carbon rich rocks cools the
Earth. No
other viable explanation that does not involve carbon dioxide has been
put forward.
Although cosmic rays appear to be partly correlated with these climate
cycles
no viable causal explanation has been advanced.
If mountains or other
uplands are formed, the weathering of earth material rich in plant
carbon
result in the natural emission of carbon dioxide to the air.
The formation and
melting of ice sheets in
Smaller climatic cycles
about 100,000 years from peak to peak are clearly observable in the
Pleistocene
ice and sediments deposited over the last 1.8 million years. These
short cycles
are initiated by changes in Sun-Earth geometry that change the
distribution of
temperature near the poles. Subsequently amplifying feedbacks due to
water
vapour, ice melting and then carbon dioxide, and may be methane, cause
major
changes, and make them global. Warming due to feedback follows several
hundred
to a few thousand years after the geometry change. Deniers are fond of
noting
that the temperature rise takes place before the carbon dioxide rise
but fail
to mention the influence of Sun-Earth geometry, ice melting or
evaporation. Whereas
carbon dioxide was only the fourth influence on warming in the
Pleistocene
cycles, it has been the main trigger in the last 200 years.
Interglacial warm
periods in the Pliocene (5.5 – 2 million years ago) and
Pleistocene were warmer
by 2-3 degrees above the present time. Carbon dioxide levels were at
500-550
ppm and sea level was 25-35 metres higher than today (Glikson, 2008). One billion people globally now live/work at
less than 25 metres above sea level. 500 ppm is just a little over the
value
that big governments are “aiming” at. What is the danger
(commonly called
“risk”) that we would exceed that figure of 450 ppm?
Moreover, we can be fairly
sure that 450 ppm already involves a sea level rise of the order of 20
metres.
Conditions and the
Future
James Hansen and his
teams put the risk or danger of losing control of our climate higher
than the
IPCC, including seemingly those scientists who wrote the Copenhagen
Diagnosis. What risk is acceptable of say crossing the 1.5 degree
threshold
that the vulnerable nations have sought? What is a reasonable danger
that your
descendants will face misery or even die from climate change? My
understanding
of the danger has increased since reading James Hansen’s
team’s recent
scientific papers and accounts of melting and break offs in Antarctica
and
Although the
predictions are always uncertain, Earth’s thermal inertia means
that for humans
to survive in the long term we must absorb much of the carbon dioxide
already
in the atmosphere. Not only must humans stop the global temperature
rise before
1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and before we reach 430
ppm
carbon dioxide, we must also bring the CO2 concentration down again to
below
350 ppm (Hansen, 2008), and to 300 ppm (Spratt and Sutton, 2007). We
must also
reduce emissions of the other warming gases and dusts, keeping in mind
that
sulphate aerosols that reduce warming are short lived, so that reducing
carbon
dioxide emissions will result in a sudden drop in their influence, even
though
the emitted carbon dioxide is long lived. Could we soon face a global
tipping
point? We are now at a virtual 1.3 degrees, not 0.8 degrees above
pre-industrial temperature. If we consider all the human induced
environmental degradation
as well as all the feedbacks from ocean heating, ice melting, forest
dieback
and fire, forest type migration, permafrost melting and the giant,
methane ice
emission, feedback and irreversibility could take over. Can we stop it?
We must encourage and
show effective leadership, based on knowledge of the latest science and
strategies,
at as many levels as possible. The Northern Europeans,
When we consider
responsibility, human lifetime emissions should be used as a criterion
to
compare nations. If we compare historical
emissions,
The
Origin of Denial
Geography and history
must be considered as well as pollution morality. The ex-white British
nations,
rich in fossil fuels and other resources per capita, with sparse
populations,
cavalier and materialistic, the growth of giant corporations, as
opposed to
more subtly cultured, are high polluters and leaders of denial. The
The
Mitigation Strategies
The first strategy, as
indicated above, is to learn enough of climate science to counter
deniers in
letters to papers, in online comment columns, videos and other fora.
Those
outside the
Because we find ourselves in an
emergency,
it is necessary to promote the idea of, and organize incentives for,
behavioural
change before appropriate technology is well developed. If we depend on
changing technology to reduce emissions, the evidence suggests climate
change
may become severe and uncontrollable before it is widespread. We need
to follow
the precautionary principle when uncertainty is apparent. Behaviour change includes actions that rely on
existing equipment, buildings and vehicles. Examples are turning off
lights, sharing
cars and eating less meat. 18 percent of US college students are
already
vegetarian, so we are on the way. Practices such as contraception,
reducing
farm burning and bicycling may involve small changes in technology.
Although
all behaviour changers will ‘save money’ those in the
relevant production areas
will lose out. It is therefore necessary that job-time sharing and
retraining
etc is part of behaviour change in order to limit mass unemployment and
unrest.
This generosity will help reduce denial in declining industries. But
probably
the key initial behaviour change required is a willingness to study,
learn and
teach locally and internationally to promote a vastly increased
understanding
of climate science in key populations around the world. Don’t
feel shy about
‘teaching up’ and across rising seas. The seniors in the
big nations have a lot
to learn. Government leadership is of course a marked advantage.
The behaviour change must be mainly in the modern sectors of all nations, not neglecting the poor rural areas where the peasantry should be taught to drain any irrigated rice fields from time to time where water is adequate, helped to reduce black carbon soot emissions.
The effort must be collective, not individual, as one person using less fossil fuels allows the next one to use more. Thus all countries must participate in an international agreement. We must all put in effort towards that. Because individual effort is not enough, if your funds are limited, rather than buying still ‘expensive’ renewable energy, it is better to spend your spare funds studying, in dialogue with or teaching both the seniors and the mass of deniers. It also important to promote citizen agreements at local levels and through the World Wide Web.
Foreign aid must be offered that is sufficient for the poor to get access to basic low carbon energy, and more efficient stoves, to help them manage forests and plant trees, to understand rice field drainage, and for the women to get access to contraceptives.
Should we put nearly
all our effort into adaptation or mitigation? The former will, in all
likelihood, only have temporary value if we don’t go all out on
the latter.
Different policies are required for different greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, as well as the dusts. Nearly all the discussion in journals and the media now is for carbon dioxide. This is an error. Particularly methane and black carbon soot should be addressed decisively. A temporary substitute for cooling aerosols will be required.
It is worthwhile to look out for measures that have other advantages. Many useful practices cost less. Minimum tillages minimises soil erosion, biochar increases productivity is some circumstances. A balance is needed between ploughing and burning to manage stubble that minimizes emissions. Vegetarianism and veganism are healthier eating styles. Emission standards and increased energy efficiency reduce city pollution and total production costs. Surface coal mining destroys landscapes. Oil transport can pollute seas. Small cities that reduce commuting emissions are more pleasant places to live. From now they must be built of wood to help store the carbon. Ted Trainer has, over the years, documented many ways and advantages of simple, sustainable lifestyles.
Three main forms of government policy amounting to regulation and incentives for carbon dioxide are being discussed, namely, cap and trade, auctioned or not, carbon tax or fee, and rationing, each of which have strengths & weaknesses. Whichever is chosen, it must be based on understanding, sincerity, and be sufficient to have a major impact.
The advantages of cap and trade, if auctioned, are revenue for government, some prior knowledge of emission reduction, increased global efficiency, and a provision to assist poorer nations. The advantages of a carbon tax/fee are revenue for government, greater knowledge of revenue raised, flexibility, transparency, less lobbying, no offset uncertainty, and avoiding weakening poor nations’ drive to help themselves. Hansen (2009) has proposed that the revenue must be returned to the people on a per-capita basis. Rationing via permits has high equity, good knowledge of emission reductions, flexibility and transparency. All three provide an incentive to emit less. Because cap and trade has the major disadvantage that it is almost impossible to reverse, apart from lobbying and tree offsets, it would be better to at least start with a tax quickly, modified with learning over time, until the methods are more widely understood. The case for auctioned cap and trade can be put then as an alternative to an operating and better understood tax system.
For carbon dioxide, other measures that will be necessary, including learning support, are a halt to new fossil fuel projects, research and development grants to universities and similar research organizations, highway regulations, manufacturing, building and renovation codes for energy efficiency. As well we will need regulation and subtle development support for forest conservation, support for a massive tree planting and maintenance programme, incentives for minimum tillage and reduce burning of crop stubble and forest regrowth, where possible. Research is needed to compare minimum tillage and organic farming involving ploughing. As temperatures rise, forests and tree plantations are facing pest attacks, drought and fire. It will be worthwhile to cut major firebreaks and store the carbon if fire is probable. Offering subsidies for particular low carbon technologies, including of course nuclear, is a mistake. The market should be left to choose, once the overall incentive to change is in place. Nuclear has other issues, but note Hansen’s (2009) support for experimental fast breeder reactors.
Black carbon soot reduction requires better stoves for the poor and diesel filters. Methane reduction requires promotion of veganism, a tax on livestock, standards of emission from mines, pipelines and waste dumps. Nitrous oxide reduction requires a tax on nitrogenous fertilizer. The countryside cannot be omitted if we are to pull through.
All this requires a massive programme of multi-lingual, multi-national education. Not counting deniers, it is extraordinary to listen to those who are nonchalant about the timing of solutions as though we have decades to solve the problem, and that it will cost say just one percent of GDP. They are living in a dream world. 300,000 people are dying annually from climate change, a figure destined to rise alarmingly. When you close all the coal mines and stop oil exploration, shut down ranches and dairies, and plant hundreds of millions of trees, the costs will be more than one percent of GDP. But the pain must be spread, if we are not to die from violence before hunger.
Persuading the
Government
How can citizens
persuade the government directly or indirectly? Should we call it
education, persuasion
or pressure? 17 strategies existing strategies such as writing,
emailing directly,
letters to newspapers, videos, face-to-face dialogue are in use. Videos
could
be made much more effective. Two strategies I haven’t seen tried
before are
what I am calling the hierarchical
strategy and the people’s web
strategy as described in my website.
The hierarchical strategy involves a combination of group letter
writing, face-to-face
dialogue and learning support, focusing on one major local organization
or
branch, moving up the hierarchy. The aim is to inform and raise the
understanding of the people at the top of hierarchies, eventually
seeking to
influence the president or prime minister of a nation. Through a
people’s
global web-based emission reduction strategy it may be possible, with
coordinated leadership and people’s international agreements
through the World
Wide Web, that we can collectively significantly reduce net emissions.
If we
can all see that citizens of other major nations are making an effort
it might
catch on. City pairing could be effective.
Should we best be
trying to educate the powerful or the mass? As denial spreads it
becomes
increasingly necessary to work with all the people, but with some focus
on prominent
deniers in major polluting nations. Contacting young adult children of
senior
deniers may be a useful strategy.
How Can Government
Persuade the People?
How can a government
that is already progressive on climate change persuade the people to
support it
where denial has spread widely? Within a few months we need much better
videos
that are well focused on the denier cases but using personal stories.
These can
be put in short and long spots on television and distributed to other
media,
government offices, schools, universities and corporations etc.
Cartoons could
usefully be employed. Governments could invite all politicians,
department
heads and CEOs to seminars/ dialogues led by the most fluent climate
scientists
backed up by the most knowledgeable.
Relatively long term approaches, and here I mean a few years only,
challenging
the capacity of people and governments, are to set up or expand
existing
government media organizations, improve schooling curricula at all
levels and
reduce lobbying from corporations on governments.
See www.stopglobalwarming-newstrategies.net for further ideas and information.
References
Bachman, John, 2009. Black Carbon: A Science/Policy Primer. Pew Centre on Global Climate Change
GISS website: www.giss.nasa.gov/research/news/
Glikson, Andrew, 2008. Implications of abrupt atmospheric changes in the recent history of Earth for 21st Century climate projections. The Australian Geologist, Dec 2008.
Goodland, Robert and Anhang, Jeff, 2009. Livestock and Climate Change.www.worldwatch.org
Hansen, James, 2009. Storms of My Grandchildren.
Hansen et al, 2005. Earth's energy Imbalance: Confirmation and implications. Science, 308.
Hansen et al, 2007. Climate change and trace gases. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society
Hansen et al., 2008. Target Atmospheric CO2: Where Should Humanity Aim? Open Atmos Sc. J.
(Web address for many of James Hansen's and team papers: http://pubs.giss.nasa.gov/authors/jhansen.html)
IPCC Report 4, 2007. Summary for Policy Makers.
Jacoby, Susan. 2008. The Age of American Unreason.
Kristjansson JE, 2008. Cosmic rays, cloud condensation nuclei and clouds – a reassessment using MOSIS data Atmos. Che. Phy 8
Lenton, Tim et al, 2007. Tipping elements in the Earth’s climate system. PNAS
Mohr, Noam, 2005. A New Global Warming Strategy. www.EarthSave.org
Molina,
Mario
et al. December 2009. Reducing
abrupt
climate change risk using the Montreal Protocol and other regulatory
actions to
complement cuts in CO2 emissions. Proceedings of the
National
Ray, Paul, 2003. The new political compass. paul@integralpartnerships.com
Spratt and Sutton, 2007. Target Practice and www.carbonequity.info
Stott, Peter and team's paper 'External Control of 20th Century Temperature by Natural and Anthropogenic Forcings' in Science (2000) www.sciencemag.org/
Xu
et al., 2009. Black Soot and the survival of Tibetan Glaciers. PNAS