HOT ATMOSPHERE

Scientists are rightly concerned about Earth’s energy balance. When our planet emits the same amount of energy as it absorbs, its average temperature remains steady because its “energy budget” is in balance. There is much news about this in the technical press[1] because that balance has been disrupted. The catastrophe of climate change is recognised by scientists worldwide as requiring urgent action; the UK’s political parties, too  (except Reform UK who seem to live in some kind of alternative dimension of fantasy). Although a target has been set to limit global warming to 1.5^oC, time to reach that target is running out fast and there are only five years left if we are to make it. Fewer and fewer scientists think we can.

It seems that the atmosphere is now absorbing double the heat it was in 1993 and one of the major concerns about this is its effect on our oceans. Something like 90% of the excess heat is absorbed by our world’s seas, causing a significant degree of marine warming since 2019.

The additional heat reduces the Earth’s albedo – the reflection of sunlight and heat by ice and snow  – because ice and snow are melting, and warmer oceans are also less effective at capturing CO₂ from the air. This leads to a rise in sea levels which will flood low-lying land and cities as the warmer water expands; and it adversely affects the life of the marine ecosystem, even in the deep ocean. Such consequences could be irreversible and, as a small group of islands in the Atlantic surrounded by biologically rich coastal waters, the British Isles’ marine life is an area in the front line.

Major changes are needed and quickly: an urgent and speedy end to the use of fossil fuels and massive investment in renewable energy worldwide. The last word of that sentence is the depressing one! Many countries have not signed up, or are unable to sign up, to such a policy.

The Earth is the only place we know in our solar system to support advanced life, perhaps the only place in our galaxy. Our planet is a wonderful oasis in space and supports us because it is at the right distance from the sun, has an atmosphere, a protective magnetic field, liquid water, a large moon that acts as a gravitational counterpoint to prevent erratic axial oscillations, a crust on which the continents move favouring evolution of species, and a relatively near-by massive planet (Jupiter) which attracts most of the comets and asteroids that might otherwise strike Earth. The shocking way we are treating this, our home, has to stop. The latest news from the supreme court in London that planning approval bodies must consider the full ongoing climate impact of new fossil fuel projects is a welcome start.

Betts Ecology are always looking at options to adopt renewable energy. It is becoming easier, if costly, to obtain vehicles and other machines with an acceptable performance that avoids using fossil hydrocarbons, but the expense pales in the face of the dire adverse impact on our planet of their continued use. There is progress, although it is not easy, and we should all be constantly pressuring our politicians to act swiftly and tenaciously.

[1] For example https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-2625-2024