Global Warming-Fact or Fiction
Global Warming - Fact or Fiction? - Speech
The Earth is rapidly heating up or is it? If it is, the next few decades may witness Biblical scenes of rising temperatures, crop failures, flooding and the extinction of different species. On the other hand, increases of Carbon Dioxide in our atmosphere may well encourage plants and trees to thrive like never before. Whom can you believe? One thing is certain the debate on climate change and Global Warming is heating up. It is surely right for us to take the concerns seriously even if we cannot yet be sure of the truth.
Climate change on our planet is nothing new. As far as we can make out, it has been going on for millions of years. Our world is different to the world inhabited by the dinosaurs when CO2 levels were estimated to be five times the level they are at today. Our world is different to the world of the ice age, when temperatures plummeted and the world froze. The debate on global warming, though, has been grabbing the headlines recently. Those who have led the debate range from the hothouse extremists to the purely cynical disbelievers. Their arguments have left the world wondering quite what to believe. One thing is definite; there is no shortage of "hot gas".
Today 's debate focuses on the last century; the first for which reliable figures are available. References are often made to the climate fluctuations of the last few centuries. In these fluctuations we have recorded grapes grown in places we would not have thought possible today. We also have evidence for so called 'mini ice ages ' when the world seemed to cool down for years. Is it possible to make sense of the arguments and evidence? Can we come to some sort of conclusion about exactly where we are heading? We are already spending five billion dollars a year on seeking the cause of climate change. The panic evident in the media and many governments world wide means that economic policy and even the wealth of nations may
The Earth is rapidly heating up or is it? If it is, the next few decades may witness Biblical scenes of rising temperatures, crop failures, flooding and the extinction of different species. On the other hand, increases of Carbon Dioxide in our atmosphere may well encourage plants and trees to thrive like never before. Whom can you believe? One thing is certain the debate on climate change and Global Warming is heating up. It is surely right for us to take the concerns seriously even if we cannot yet be sure of the truth.
Climate change on our planet is nothing new. As far as we can make out, it has been going on for millions of years. Our world is different to the world inhabited by the dinosaurs when CO2 levels were estimated to be five times the level they are at today. Our world is different to the world of the ice age, when temperatures plummeted and the world froze. The debate on global warming, though, has been grabbing the headlines recently. Those who have led the debate range from the hothouse extremists to the purely cynical disbelievers. Their arguments have left the world wondering quite what to believe. One thing is definite; there is no shortage of "hot gas".
Today 's debate focuses on the last century; the first for which reliable figures are available. References are often made to the climate fluctuations of the last few centuries. In these fluctuations we have recorded grapes grown in places we would not have thought possible today. We also have evidence for so called 'mini ice ages ' when the world seemed to cool down for years. Is it possible to make sense of the arguments and evidence? Can we come to some sort of conclusion about exactly where we are heading? We are already spending five billion dollars a year on seeking the cause of climate change. The panic evident in the media and many governments world wide means that economic policy and even the wealth of nations may