Video: Historic Explosion of CO2 from London
100 years ago, global CO2 emissions were still largely centered in London.
The explosion of the amount of CO2 emissions essentially began in England with the industrial revolution and expanded globally. I have been in London for the last week which reminded me of a terrific video that illustrates this history. In just one minute it tracks the global explosion of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from 1751 through 2008, through a detailed re-creation of fossil fuel use.
As you watch the colors develop around the world, note how the years progress in the box at the bottom.
For the last 11,000 years, a period known as the Holocene, the global heat energy exchange was in balance each year, making for a long period of climate stability. In simplest form, this is the amount of solar energy received, compared to the heat lost to space, with the insulation value and heat reflectance of our atmosphere being the critical factor that kept things in balance.
The burning of fossil fuels, is largely the history of the industrial age, now moving into the information age, which also uses lots of energy. It is the amazing phenomenon that CO2 (carbon dioxide) allows sunlight to pass but traps heat that has caused the world to warm.That caused average global temperature to rise, decade by decade, now more than 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit (roughly 1 degree Celsius) warmer than during the pre-industrial age.
This scientific principle was established by many scientists, but notably first demonstrated here in London in the 1850’s by John Tyndall, a Fellow of the Royal Society. It is worth noting, that Britain has been a leader at curtailing emissions of greenhouse gases and carbon particulate matter in recent decades. (In my blog post last week I made the distinction between CO2, carbon particulate matter and ozone.)
The two inescapable takeaways from the ever increasing warming are that we must:
- Reduce the warming as the very highest priority by switching from fossil fuels and even exploring ways to pull CO2 out of the atmosphere.
- Prepare for the effects – such as rising sea level, warmer temperatures, and record rainfall–that are now accelerating, due to the extra heat energy already stored in the sea and atmosphere.
If we pursue both vigorously enough, we can manage our way through this unprecedented period of adaptation. We must “rise with the tide.” There is no other option.