Who Cares?
Climate Change, who cares anyway, well we all should because it will affect us all. Try and ignore it as you may, Climate Change is real and it is happening. There is an overwhelming consensus amongst scientists that climate change is linked to global warming and whilst it may still be debatable if human activity is directly responsible for initiating global warming and climate change it is certainly contributing to and accelerating the effects. The summer of 2003 was the hottest in Europe for the last 500 years and resulted in an estimated extra 35,000 deaths Europe wide with 2,045 of those being in England and Wales.
The Science Bit
Gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane and a number of complex hydrocarbons contribute to what is called the "Green House Effect". The Earth receives energy from the Sun, mainly in the form of visible light and since the atmosphere is transparent to visible light 50% of the Sun's energy reaches the Earth's surface and is absorbed as heat. The Earth's surface radiates this heat back as infrared radiation which normally passes through the atmosphere but is absorbed by the so called "greenhouse gases" listed above and radiated back towards the surface. This causes the lower atmosphere and the surface to warm up.
Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are now higher than at any time in the last 750,000 years. Beginning with the industrial revolution and rising at an accelerating rate ever since, levels have risen from approx. 280 parts per million (ppm) in air in pre industrial times to a level of around 313ppm in 1960 to 387 ppm today. This increase is thought to be principally due to the burning of fossil fuels and if current rates of fossil fuel use continues, levels of CO2 in the atmosphere could reach over 535ppm by the end of this century.
How Will Climate Change Affect Doncaster
Some of the likely effects for 2050 in the Doncaster area are: -
1.5 0 increase in winter daily mean temperatures
A possible rise in maximum summer temperatures by 3.1 oC to above 30 oC
A summer rainfall reduction of up to 14.3 mm resulting in a decrease in relative humidity by 11.6%
In effect this means that: -
Summers will get hotter and drier and winters warmer and wetter (with less snow).
Road surfaces will be more likely to melt in the summer sun.
Homes and offices will overheat in summer.
There will be an increase in flooding.
Water reserves will be more difficult to manage with too much in winter and too little in summer.
Energy demands will rise in summer to cool buildings.
Landscapes and habitats will change.
Wildlife may migrate to new areas and be forced out of their traditional range.
The range of crops grown will change.
This won't be a nice steady gradual change. climate change is characterised by an increase in severe weather events, such as the floods of July 2007 and the gales in January/February of 2006 and 2007.
For information about what the council is doing and what you can do, please see the pages in the left hand menu.
