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Lovelock, Gaia and Global Warming

I have not read James Lovelock's new analysis in any detail. There are issues relating to global warming, however, that don't seem to have hit the consciousness of government.

The essential problem is that if it is the case (which it most likely is) that a certain level of CO2 concentration implies an increase in the amount of heat trapped, then even if CO2 concentrations stabilised at the current levels then temperatures would continue to rise.

All the Kyoto and similar proposals talk about continuing to have increases in CO2 concentrations. Hence they really do not deal properly with the issue.

At the same time, however, little attention is given to carbon capture. There are mechanisms for carbon capture other than growing trees. There needs to be further work done on this.

Comments

Peter Pigeon said…
Excellent post, John. We need to move on from simply urging compliance with Kyoto.

It might be a first step - but it does not address fundametal issues.
John Hemming said…
It is, of course, a global issue.
Tristan said…
We do need to move on from Kyoto.
Not that Kyoto is a bad thing, it, and other similar deals are one mechanism for trying to deal with this huge problem, but we need to look to others as well.
We should not be shy of unilateral action in this case, it won't solve the problem, but will help a bit, and hopefully will show other countries that it can be done whilst continuing economic growth.

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