In his literal words, ''global warming is sham; it is unreal, apolitical and a ludicrously overblown public alarm''. he explained with such clarity and lucid understanding which won my vivid admiration, how human generated C02 emission has nothing to do with our changing climate as acclaimed by over 2,000 scientists commissioned by the United Nation called the intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC) in 2001.

To further underpin his assertions, professor Li brought out a long and round shaped ice sample which was purportedly an ice core from the Antarctic and laid it on a clean silver platter and began fiddling with scientific objects to and fro, he explained how our climate has changed for the past several billions of years, the melting ice in the glaciers and the factors responsible, he explained the declining salt level of the sea which naturally regulates ocean temperature, pointing to a massive visual screen which had the attention of all his listening audience, he explained with scientific facts and computer simulated models why he disagrees with the global warming buzz purportedly caused by C02, as I sat amidst the audience, I watched with a mixed emotion of curiosity and marvel, how he delivered his presentation with genius, finesse and wonderment.

He continued, ‘‘there are many factors responsible for climate change, part of them is variation in earth’s orbit, solar radiation, deviation in sunlight intensity and many other scientific evidences’’, now again in an even louder tone he exclaimed!!! global warming is sham…he agreed that the ocean is getting warmer and polar ice caps are melting down but said that they are caused by undersea volcanoes and heating ocean from under the ice.

In his further assertions, he suggests that typical alarmists, “Evidence”: Polar Bears, Glaciers, Arctic Melt, Antarctic Ice Shelves, Storms, Droughts, Fires, Malaria, Snow Melt on Mt Kilimanjaro, Rising Sea Levels, Ocean Warming and Urban Heat Island Effect. Although are issues which say something about whether or not climate change is or was occurring, none of them say nothing about a C02 caused climate change

Of the 186 billion tons of CO2 that enters the atmosphere, only 6 billion comes from human activity which is a meager 3.2%. Moreover, 99.72% of the greenhouse effect is from to natural causes and not due to human activity. In summary, GHG and CO2 does not cause global warming, he alluded.

Although, I’m no environmentalist or a wannabe climatologist but the global warming subject is one which I have so much interest, I have spoken about it on several occasions, delivered presentations and mentored several school lads to beware of that disaster called global warming. Since my eco-climatic inclination began, I’ve met the young and the old, those who doubt and those who agree; some make wrong insinuations, have misconceptions, while some cast aspersions all on the being and truth about climate change

As professor Li rounded off for a break session, I heard murmurs from one side and whinging from the other, on my far left were this group who discussed amongst themselves with such comments as ‘‘oh I never knew climate change is not real’’ so why have governments spent so much money on climate change policies, on changing our lifestyles, on new energy processes etc, the other one went ‘‘now I’ll go home and remove the energy saving bulb given to me because this climate change noise is just to fool us by our politicians ……….. Amongst those who murmured were this group of intellectuals at my back, who mixed grammar with eloquence, (hear them) ‘‘global warming is real friends, as you know it, the disaster is a syncretism of our climatological disparities and it is behooveful on each one of us to be conscious of our lifestyles’’.

As the whinging, whispering and murmuring went on, I was quick to stop professor Li, who passed by to challenge him that I disagree with his scientific view, I asked him that if global warming is not caused by C02 emission and green house effects, what about the tons of millions of gas that is emitted into the thin air by the gargantuan oil industries, manufacturing plants, power plants, fossil fuel production and other activities on industrial scale… what are those disastrous gases causing if not to damage something in our eco-system.

I drew his attention to changing rainfall patterns causing distortion in growing seasons; I gave him instances which I have personally seen of farmers who would normally harvest for the past 10 years in October but in the past four years have been harvesting in late November, I asked him about our increasing warmer temperatures which could trigger more tropical diseases, before I went on, Prof said, ok young man, we’ll have a session for discussion in subsequent sessions and then, you can raise your point, then I simmered hoping that my points will be raised when given the opportunity.

During the next session, the audience was introduced to another pro-global warming guru, whose personal appearance explained that intellectualism sometimes reflect in physical appearance.

He had a resemblance of Albert Einstein, tall, clean and humorous, Professor Sam’s task was to argue in contrast to Professor Li’s earlier presentation and then he started:

Yes, climate change is a result of various sorts of causes as acclaimed by professor Li, variation in sunlight intensity, undersea volcanoes, solar radiation, earth’s orbit. Etc. ‘‘but I beg to differ, over 50% of our changing climate is caused by C02 emission’’.

As he further claimed, Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound of two elements, carbon and oxygen, in the ratio of one to two; its molecular formula is CO2.

CO2 gas has a slightly irritating odour, is colourless and is denser than air. Although it is normal if a minor constituent of air, high concentrations of CO2 can be dangerous.

He continued; human activities result in emissions of four principal greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O) and halocarbons (a group of gases containing fluorine, chlorine and bromine). These gases accumulate in the atmosphere, causing concentrations to increase with time. Significant increases in all of these gases have occurred in the industrial era. All of these increases are attributable to human activities.

On the giant screen, Professor Sam pointed to his well crafted graphical explanation which shows the increased level of C02 in the atmosphere since the industrial revolution in the 1900’s , as he demonstrated, ‘‘In 2005, global atmospheric concentrations of CO2 were 35% higher than they were before the Industrial Revolution’’. And from scientific facts, it is proven that climate change have become more intense after the industrial revolution, therefore, climate change have become more intensified due to human causes such as fossil fuel burning, deforestation and other anthropogenic causes.

Pointing to a recent scientific evidence, on the giant visual screen, professor Sam shows that the temperature of the arctic region fell steadily from over 2000 years ago all the way up to a 100 years ago. ‘‘The cooling was caused by less solar radiation during the summer and the cold temperatures would have continued undisturbed. But around the year 1900 there occurred a dramatic increase in temperature and new research results therefore provide further evidence of man’s influence on the climate.

To further underpin his facts, he proved that from around the year 1900 the earth’s temperature began to rise 0,70 C. This coincides with industrialisation in the 20th century and results in four of the five warmest decades in the entire 2000 year long period.

Professor Sam gave facts upon facts, real scientific evidences, data, computer simulated models and beyond the scope of science he gave real-life examples of the enormous devastation that climate change is causing to our world. Before rounding off his session which attracted a resounding applause for over 10 mins, he asserted that ‘‘in summary over 50% of climate change is caused by green house gases (GHG) with a high concentration of C02 trapped in the air thus reducing cooling in our atmosphere, this cooling is what gives balance to our environment and thus give basis to existence, biodiversities and human life.

Amazed, excited and convinced, as the round of applause simmered, I stood up amidst the crowd and exclaimed in a voice that could wake the dead, yes!!! Climate change is real, and before I could settle for my seat, I heard the crowd chanting with me, yes, yes, it is real, cli---ma---te--- change, —Yes, It is real, it is real………….

Had the crowd known that songs and chants are an inspiration that sends me uncontrollably agog, they would have not started at all, before the chant simmered, I jumped on the podium and took over the Mic from the Moderator; I poured words of insult on Professor Li for telling us that climate change does not exist, I reached for his cooler, and broke down all his ice core samples, scattered his scientific instrument and reached for the Mic.

Thank you everybody and thank you Professor Sam for your beautiful presentation, at least we all know that there is no justification for the Shell’s, Mobil’s, Coca cola’s, Nestlé’s Cadbury’s etc to continue to emit of millions of tons of C02 into our thin air each year, I said that whether climate change is caused by C02 or not, governments must continue to spent money on research, on development, on public enlightenment campaigns and on new energy policies and strategies and continue funding green projects. I asked aggressively, why should we stop activities to curb C02 emission, when its mitigation can help produce more jobs, when it helps green our communities, when it helps us towards reclying and conserving products which we would ordinarily waste.

As I reached to make my final point, I heard my name called, (Ola) and before making any moves I felt the succulent hands of my wife, ‘‘darling its time for work’’…. As I woke up to the world…I thanked my Goodness it all was a dream. But at least I have the conviction that Yes…Climate change is real.

Robot  # 1 | 24.09.2009 18:16

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