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Global Warming & Climate Change: Humans' Reactions & Responses

I considered what this fellow said though, and if you want to be one of those people that believe that nothing has anything to do with us and nothing matters at all - then that works fine.

He makes good points; why are some endangered creatures the centre of attention and not others? Is it only the cute cuddly ones on the brink of extinction?

Also, I have read that the Sun's core fluctuates in temerature every 100,000 years, and that the poles flip now and then, and that there are warm and cold periods on the Earth.

Besides, do you really - really think that we will be here in 100,000 years time?

No, scratch that - 20,000 years time?

Because I don't.
 
coldelephant said:
I considered what this fellow said though, and if you want to be one of those people that believe that nothing has anything to do with us and nothing matters at all - then that works fine.

He makes good points; why are some endangered creatures the centre of attention and not others? Is it only the cute cuddly ones on the brink of extinction?

Also, I have read that the Sun's core fluctuates in temerature every 100,000 years, and that the poles flip now and then, and that there are warm and cold periods on the Earth.

Besides, do you really - really think that we will be here in 100,000 years time?

No, scratch that - 20,000 years time?

Because I don't.
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I worry a lot more about what our legacy will be to our children and grandchildren, these days. Let the coming millennia take care of themselves, if we, as a species, can get to the end of this century with all our teeth and no serious injuries, metaphorically speaking.
 
Yes - correctly punctuated, it would have read "Mark, your "A" knob", as Rubyait was kindly supplying Mark with a new "A" knob, as he'd mislaid his previous one.

Or am I missing the point, here?
 
Ok. I think my point may have been made clearer by saying:

'Mark, you are talking out of your anus. P.s do you need a spare knob?'
 
*bangs head against wall* ;)

e.g. http://web.uvic.ca/wguide/Pages/UsYour.html :)

The guy may or may not be a knob, or have an 'a' knob, but I am inclined to sympathise with his position.
I'm not as global warming denier, but I don't draw the 'unnatural' / 'natural' distinction between the activities of man and all other processes in the universe, the earth is a closed system with only yay much carbon in it, sometimes in the ground, sometimes in the life, sometimes in the air and I see nothing inherently special about humanity that some objective morality requires its survival. 8)
 
No but I wouldn't mind surviving. D'ya know what I is saying? :D
 
Branson launches climate prize

Millions of pounds are on offer for the person who comes up with the best way of removing significant amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson launched the competition today in London alongside former US vice-president Al Gore.

A panel of judges will oversee the prize, including James Lovelock and Nasa scientist James Hansen.

Sir Richard said humankind must realise the scale of the crisis it faced.

"The Earth cannot wait 60 years," he said at the press conference.

"I want a future for my children and my children's children. The clock is ticking."

He said if the planet was to survive, it was vital to find a way of getting rid of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.

He said he believed offering the £25m Earth Challenge prize was the best way of finding a solution.

Overseeing the innovations are James Hansen, head of the Nasa Institute for Space Studies, the inventor of Gaia theory James Lovelock, UK environmentalist Sir Crispin Tickell and Australian conservationist Tim Flannery.

They are looking for a method that will remove at least one billion tonnes of carbon per year from the atmosphere.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6345557.stm
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Rubyait said:
Branson launches climate prize ...
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As someone said on TV the other day, how can you trust a man who owns both a train company and an airline and yet himself insists on travelling by hot air balloon?
 
stuneville said:
Rubyait said:
Branson launches climate prize ...
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As someone said on TV the other day, how can you trust a man who owns both a train company and an airline and yet himself insists on travelling by hot air balloon?
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Well he does provide the fuel for his balloon.
 
This rather interesting idea from BransonGore ltd should bring rather a lot of nutters out of the woodwork.

I for one would be as interested to see the off the wall suggestions and the ones from schools/prisons/special hospitals as I would the ones from scientists.

Dear Mr Branson and Mr Gore
Could we invent a time machine and go back and stop deforestation and while we are at it prevent the discovery of the starter motor.

Chris, Weston s Mare, aged 38 & 1/4

[edit] as an afterthought may I recommend the business name GoreBranson as it sounds like a suggestion.
 
Oooh, that was odd.

I posted the above wry second-hand comment about the bearded one. Then my broadband started to play up, so I went to the Telewest status page. Which didn't come up, instead diverting me to... The Virgin Media Broadband homepage. Funny, I thought. Fu-nnn-y. So I tried ringing 150 from my Telewest-provided phone line. "Hello!" said the voice."Welcome to Virgin Media!"

Ermmm...

Glance at TV. That's now provided by Virgin as well.

Transpires that I'm now paying Mr Branson for my TV, Phone and Broadband. Telewest, and therefore presumably NTL, are no more. They have ceased to be. We were apparently told this by letter along with our bill a week or so ago, but as I'm famous for not reading bills I didn't glean this info. But just for one little minute, I thought Big Brother had arrived, and he had a goatee.

:?
 
RB will be on Richard & Judy, starting 1700...
 
stuneville said:
Transpires that I'm now paying Mr Branson for my TV, Phone and Broadband. Telewest, and therefore presumably NTL, are no more. They have ceased to be. We were apparently told this by letter along with our bill a week or so ago, but as I'm famous for not reading bills I didn't glean this info. But just for one little minute, I thought Big Brother had arrived, and he had a goatee.
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Stu

The two primary Cable Networks in the UK have, as of Wednesday of this week, teamed up with Virgin Media. NTL + TWest previously had Sh*t customer services and Virgin are renowned for looking after the customer experience. They should have written and told you (within that bill you shredded/recycled).

BT have their eye on this little team up. It is deemed to be quite a threat.

Oh! and we have not had any snow in WsM at all yet Cardiff (not far in seagull miles) has had loads. Seems that global warming is isolated to the WsM microclimate but I bet it wont be noticeable in the summer
 
Hope for end of climate deadlock

Leading US politicians are meeting with legislators from the EU, China, Japan and India to seek a breakthrough in the international climate deadlock.

The meeting, organised by British-run parliamentarians' group Globe, is strongly supported by the UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.

On Thursday, it will publish recommendations for a new world deal on climate change at the G8 summit.

G8 leaders will be meeting in Germany this summer.

The gathering in the US senate has attracted two presidential candidates - John McCain and the Senate Foreign Relations committee chair Joe Biden.

In addition, four other Senate committee chairs will attend; Joe Lieberman (homeland security); Jeff Bingaman (energy), Olympia Snow (finance) and Barbara Boxer (environment).

Complex equation

US climate-watchers say it is an indication that since the mid-term elections the US is shifting towards re-joining the international fold on climate.

It is highly likely, they believe, that even if President Bush continues to refuse mandatory emissions cuts the next president will want to return to the fray.

But this is a complex equation.

Many Republicans still demand that the competitor economies of China and India accept emissions cuts to prevent industry being re-located without any benefit to the global atmosphere.

This question will need somehow to be addressed, but China and, particularly, India are outraged that the US refuses to take the lead in emissions cuts when it has much higher pollution per person and has signed the 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which obliges rich nations to reduce emissions first.

It is perhaps unsurprising that the only Indian delegate to the meeting has dropped out.

Mr Blair hopes the Globe (Global Legislators Organisation for a Balanced Environment) forum will clear the way for a historic agreement between the G8 and five biggest developing nations on a stabilisation goal for greenhouse gases - a limit beyond which the world should not pass.

Clear message

He also wants to see a global price for carbon and a big increase in the funds available for developing countries to expand their economies more cleanly.

If a stabilisation goal is agreed it could prove a surprising legacy for Mr Blair - depending on the CO2 level agreed.

But without a matching deal on mandatory cuts for the US it could amount to little more than a resolution in a student flat that someone needs to do the washing up.

In the diplomatic game we are still lagging behind 1992 when the Framework Convention clearly delineated responsibilities, or 1997 when the US promised to cut emissions as part of the Kyoto Protocol.

Signs of hope may lie in the steely scientific consensus on the human origins of climate change and in the increasing recognition by big business that something must be done - a message that major corporations are transmitting clearly to the White House.

But the major stumbling block remains the President's Office itself.

While Congress moves steadily greenwards, America's policy remains dictated by a knot of advisers in the White House Council on Environmental Quality with close links to the oil industry. It is not yet clear whether they will attend this week's meeting.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6358269.stm
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Leaders plot path to climate deal

A meeting of politicians in Washington has heard US and European leaders state that the climate change debate is over.

The informal meeting is an attempt to broker a new global deal on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

But a proposal tabled by the British government was rejected by German delegates as being far too lax.

US senator Joe Lieberman forecast that the US Congress will enact a law on cutting emissions by the end of next year, possibly this year.

And presidential candidate John McCain, who is co-sponsoring climate legislation with Mr Leiberman, was emphatic on the need for new initiatives.

"The debate is over, my friends," he told delegates. "Now the question is: what do we do?

"Do we act, do we care enough about the young people of the next generation to act seriously and meaningfully, or are we just going to continue this debate and this discussion?"

Meanwhile, the Canadian parliament moved to force the government to meet its Kyoto Protocol target for reducing emissions.

The ruling Conservative party argues that meeting the target, of reducing emissions by 6% from 1990 levels by the period 2008-2012, is impossible.

The parliamentary vote gives the government 60 days to formulate a plan for getting back on track.

Watching America

With United Nations climate negotiations in November failing to agree a timetable for mandating new cuts in emissions when the current Kyoto targets expire in 2012, the British-led Global Legislators Organisation for a Balanced Environment (Globe) set up the Washington meeting in the hope of stimulating progress in a less formal setting.

Senior US political figures such as Senate committee chairs Jeff Bingaman (energy) and Barbara Boxer (environment) are attending, as are leaders from other G8 countries and major developing world economies.

German chancellor Angela Merkel sent a video message saying she was determined to break through the climate impasse during this year's G8 negotiations, which Germany chairs.

The scientific evidence, she said, "leaves no doubt" that climate change is real and human-induced.

Britain's Environment Secretary David Miliband said US involvement in global moves to reduce emissions was badly needed.

"The battle against global warming will only be won with America on side," he said. "America has a huge amount to gain as well as to contribute from being at the heart of of a global drive to reduce emissions."

However, a proposal which Britain took to the meeting was condemned by German representatives as being too weak.

Mr Blair proposed a deal aiming to limit the rise in average global temperatures to 3C (5.4F).

This would put the UK at odds with the European Union, which is pursuing a 2C (3.6F) maximum rise.

Recent scientific research indicates that 3C could trigger serious disruption in many parts of the Earth, including irreversible drying out of the Amazon rainforest and melting of the Greenland ice sheet.

The talks are expected to conclude on Thursday with a consensus recommentation which can be taken to G8 meetings later in the year and to the next UN climate summit in December.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6364663.stm
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Politicians sign new climate pact

Leading international politicians have reached a new agreement on tackling climate change, at a Washington summit.

Delegates agreed that developing countries will have to face targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions as well as rich countries.

The informal meeting also agreed that a global market should be formed to cap and trade carbon dioxide emissions.

The non-binding declaration is seen as vital in influencing a replacement for the Kyoto Protocol, correspondents say.

The forum's closing statement said man-made climate change was now "beyond doubt".

"Climate change is a global issue and there is an obligation on us all to take action, in line with our capabilities and historic responsibilities," said the statement from the Global Legislators Organisation for a Balanced Environment (Globe).

'Tipping point'

The two-day meeting brought together legislators from countries including the Group of Eight rich nations, plus Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa.

The BBC's environment analyst Roger Harrabin was at the meeting and says that although the declaration carries no formal weight, it indicates a real change in mood.

The legislators agreed that developing countries had to face targets on greenhouse gas emissions, in the same way rich countries do.

They said they wanted a successor to the Kyoto Protocol - which expires in 2012 - in place by 2009.

US senator Joe Lieberman forecast that the US Congress would enact a law on cutting emissions by the end of next year, possibly this year.

And presidential candidate John McCain, who is co-sponsoring climate legislation with Mr Lieberman, was emphatic on the need for new initiatives.

"I am convinced that we have reached the tipping point and that the Congress of the United States will act, with the agreement of the administration," he told the forum.

But Dr John Holdren, the head of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), said President George W Bush needed to appreciate that the US economy would not suffer unnecessarily if emission were capped.

"The economic damage from not addressing climate change is much larger than the economic cost of addressing it," he said.

Meanwhile, the Canadian parliament moved to force the government to meet its Kyoto Protocol target for reducing emissions.

The ruling Conservative party argues that meeting the target, of reducing emissions by 6% from 1990 levels by the period 2008-2012, is impossible.

The parliamentary vote gives the government 60 days to formulate a plan for getting back on track.

With United Nations climate negotiations in November failing to agree a timetable for mandating new cuts in emissions when the current Kyoto targets expire in 2012, the British-led Globe set up the Washington meeting in the hope of stimulating progress in a less formal setting.

The UN's panel on climate change said earlier this month that higher global temperatures caused by man-made pollution would melt polar ice, worsen floods and droughts and cause more devastating storms.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6364663.stm
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Ooh! Err! :shock:
Link:
Climate change: scientists warn it may be too late to save the ice caps
David Adam. February 19, 2007. The Guardian

A critical meltdown of ice sheets and severe sea level rise could be inevitable because of global warming, the world's scientists are preparing to warn their governments. New studies of Greenland and Antarctica have forced a UN expert panel to conclude there is a 50% chance that widespread ice sheet loss "may no longer be avoided" because of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Such melting would raise sea levels by four to six metres, the scientists say. It would cause "major changes in coastline and inundation of low-lying areas" and require "costly and challenging" efforts to move millions of people and infrastructure from vulnerable areas. The previous official line, issued in 2001, was that the chance of such an event was "not well known, but probably very low".

The melting process could take centuries, but increased warming caused by a failure to cut emissions would accelerate the ice sheets' demise, and give nations less time to adapt to the consequences. Areas such as the Maldives would be swamped and low-lying countries such as the Netherlands and Bangladesh, as well as coastal cities including London, New York and Tokyo, would face critical flooding.

The warning appears in a report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which assesses the likely impacts of global warming and will be published in April. A final draft of the report's summary-for-policymakers chapter, obtained by the Guardian, says: "Very large sea level rises that would result from widespread deglaciation of Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets imply major changes in coastlines and inundation of low-lying areas, with greatest effects in river deltas.

"Relocating populations, economic activity and infrastructure would be costly and challenging. There is medium confidence that both ice sheets would be committed to partial deglaciation for a global average temperature increase greater than 1-2C, causing sea level rise of 4-6m over centuries to millennia." Medium confidence means about a five in 10 chance.

The revelation comes as a new report points out that greenhouse gas emissions running into hundreds of millions of tonnes have not been disclosed by Britain's biggest businesses, masking the full extent of the UK's contribution to global warming. According to a report by Christian Aid, only 16 of Britain's top 100 listed companies are meeting the government's most elementary reporting guidelines on greenhouse gas emissions. As a result, almost 200m tonnes of damaging CO2 is estimated to be missing from the annual reports of FTSE 100 companies. The figure is more than the annual reported emissions of Pakistan and Greece combined.

This month the IPCC published a separate study on the science of climate change, which concluded that humans are "very likely" to be responsible for most of the recent warming, and that average temperatures would probably increase by 4C this century if emissions continue to rise. Even under its most optimistic scenario, based on a declining world population and a rapid switch to clean technology, temperatures are still likely to rise by 1.8C.

The new report is expected to say this means there is "a significant probability that some large-scale events (eg deglaciation of major ice sheets) may no longer be avoided due to historical greenhouse gas emissions and the inertia of the climate system". Scientists involved with the IPCC process cannot talk publicly about its contents before publication. But a senior author on the report said: "It's not rocket science to realise that with the numbers coming out from the IPCC [science report], the warming by the end of the century is enough to do that." The report's conclusion poses a conundrum for governments of how to address a problem that is inevitable but may not occur for hundreds or thousands of years. "That's for the policy makers to decide but it really is a very difficult question," the source said. "Those are moral questions and the answer you give will depend very much on which part of the world you live in."

Jonathan Overpeck, a climate scientist at the University of Arizona, said the key question was not whether the ice sheets would break up, but how quickly. Some models suggest rapid melting that would bring sea level rises of more than a metre per century. "That would be much harder for us to cope with," he says.

The IPCC science report predicted sea level rises of up to 0.59m by the end of the century. But that does not include the possible contribution from ice sheets, because the experts judged it too unpredictable to forecast over short timescales.
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Areas such as the Maldives would be swamped and low-lying countries such as the Netherlands and Bangladesh, as well as coastal cities including London, New York and Tokyo, would face critical flooding.
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This of course political dynamite, which means politicians will not touch it with a barge-pole.

So nothing will happen until the first very big tide overtops and bypasses the Thame Barrage and Londoners get their feet wet. A fortnight later, more big tides arrive, and a few faint voices will be heard crying "I told you so!".

Another fortnight, and flooding each high tide for several days. Property prices start to crash, and those people that can start leaving the capital. Government relocates 'temporarily' to Yorkshire or elsewhere.

Meanwhile, international trade is drastically hit, as the flooding leaves the UK's container ports at Felixstowe and Southampton unable to operate.

Similarly, tankers find it impossible to berth at the refineries at Southampton and Milford Haven. Fuel shortages hit road transport, causing shortages of food, amongst other things.

Jobs disappear, unemployment and crime soar, and a military coup takes place. The incompetent politicians who failed to prepare for this flooding are put against a wall and shot....




...so it's not all bad news! :D
 
rynner said:
Government relocates 'temporarily' to Yorkshire or elsewhere.
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I've just asked everyone else and we've decided were not letting them in if they come to Lancashire.....well...apart from my mate Dave who says he'll put them up at his house but it's gonna cost 'em. ;)
 
rynner said:
Jobs disappear, unemployment and crime soar, and a military coup takes place. The incompetent politicians who failed to prepare for this flooding are put against a wall and shot....
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You made me smile again ryn!

Thank you :D
 
Here's a politician who does care:
Alan Simpson MP: A good man in Westminster

In an age of spin and slavish loyalty, Alan Simpson is an MP who stuck to his principles. As he announces his resignation, Colin Brown pays tribute to a man who gives politicians a good name
Published: 20 February 2007

For Alan Simpson, the turning point came with the birth of his daughter Elie, 13 months ago. After carving out a successful career as a familiar and colourful figure on the Labour backbenches, enough was enough.

The MP arrived at a stark conclusion: if his daughter were to enjoy a secure future, more would have to be done to combat global warming. Disillusioned with an increasingly ineffective Parliament, he decided Westminster was no longer capable of listening to his demands for more radical action.

Yesterday, Mr Simpson took the bold step of announcing to his Nottingham South constituency that, after 13 years as their MP, he was quitting to carry on campaigning on "green" issues outside Parliament.

Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, the frequent recipients of Mr Simpson's critical tongue, may weep few tears at his departure at the next election, but many believe Parliament will be a poorer place. And for those who fear politics is increasingly dominated by spin and is bereft of principle, Mr Simpson's decision may offer some reassurance.

The 58-year-old has become a fully paid-up member of Parliament's awkward squad, the band of irrepressible trouble-makers on both sides of the House who refuse to be silenced by whips and are prepared to sacrifice careers for principles.

Yesterday, Mr Simpson tried to sum up his philosophy: "I never went into Parliament to have a career. I went in to change the world. I'm leaving because I still want to change the world, and I don't think you can do that in this Parliament," he said. In a letter to his Nottingham South party, he said: "My worry is that it has become a comfort zone in which MPs are paid more and more to stand for less and less."

In his constituency home, he has also shown that he is willing to practise what he preaches. He has built an eco-friendly house where he lives with his French-Canadian partner, Pascale, and their baby daughter Elie.

Mr Simpson - who has children by an earlier marriage - said it was Elie's birth that finally convinced him he was wasting his time. "This is where I just have to be brave and act on what I believe," he said. "I haven't got anything lined up. I'm giving up the security of my MPs' salary to do something for the security of my daughter's future. The Stern Report said it would cost one per cent of GDP to bring about the scale of change we need to affect climate change. Instead, we are stuck with a series of Mickey Mouse measures that are either short-term and insufficient, or hopelessly misdirected or dishonest."

His resignation letter pulled few punches when it came to colleagues. He wrote: "There are good people in the Parliamentary Labour Party; just not enough of them. Many MPs complain of a government that no longer listens to the party, but they dutifully walk through the division lobbies to vote for whatever regressive measures Downing Street asks for. At times I feel that colleagues would vote for the slaughter of the first-born if asked to."

His comments have not made him popular among Labour MPs. He was a runner-up in the Channel 4 political awards last week, but Lembit Opik, the Liberal Democrat, and another maverick at Westminster, said he was "the rebel without applause".

His CV as a Labour rebel is impressive. He has voted against student top-up fees, ID cards, anti-terror laws and the war in Iraq. He was one of the first MPs to raise fears about the reversal of the Gulf stream, but few took him seriously.

..............................................

He was not a one-issue MP though, warning about global warming long before it became fashionable. He produced an alternative "green" economic manifesto which neither Mr Blair nor Mr Brown appeared prepared to adopt, until the Stern report gave some official status to his dire predictions.

.....................................

In his own words

............................

* ON CLIMATE CHANGE

"We have probably got 10, maybe 15 years maximum to make some huge fundamental changes in the way that we organise society if we are going to manage our way through the worst aspects of climate change. And I think Parliament is out to lunch on this... If the momentum of Parliament is as detached as it has been so far about climate change and the failure to make these changes now, then I do not want to be a part of that cover-up."

............................

http://news.independent.co.uk/people/pr ... 287029.ece
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Check out these crazy ideas eh....so crazy they may just work!

Artificial trees: A green solution?

Carbon capture, in the form of "artificial trees", is one idea explored in the BBC Two documentary Five Ways To Save The World. But could these extraordinary machines help to mitigate our excessive burning of fossil fuels and its consequence, global warming?

In 2006, more than 29 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide was pumped into the atmosphere. And 80% of the world's energy supply still relies on fossil fuels.

New York resident and geo-physicist Professor Klaus Lackner thinks he may have found a way of tackling our current excessive use of fossil fuels.

He has designed a synthetic tree, a construction that mimics the function of natural trees whereby leaves pull carbon dioxide (CO2) out of the air as it flows over them.

The CO2 removed from the atmosphere in this way, he believes, could be stored deep underground both safely and permanently.

But even though Professor Lackner only advocates the use of these artificial trees as a way of giving the world some time to come up with alternative, "carbon-neutral" energy sources, how effective would they be in offsetting greenhouse emissions?

Synthetic leaves

"Just like a real tree, an artificial tree would have a structure to hold it up - the equivalent of a trunk, probably a pillar," explains the professor. "You would find the equivalent of branches which hold up the leaves."

Unlike in a real tree, he explains, where the leaves are spread out because they have to see sunshine for the purpose of photosynthesis, the leaves on an artificial tree could be packed much more tightly.

"That is one of the reasons why an artificial tree can collect much more CO2 than a natural tree," he argues.

It was Professor Lackner's teenage daughter Claire who gave him the inspiration to tackle CO2 in the atmosphere, when she was looking for a school science project.

Claire showed she could actually pull carbon dioxide out of the air by blowing it through a solution of sodium hydroxide.

Overnight, she had collected half of the CO2 from the air blown through the solution.

When CO2 comes into contact with sodium hydroxide, it is absorbed, producing a liquid solution of sodium carbonate.

It is that liquid solution that the professor believes could be piped away, and the time at which the CO2 could be recovered as a concentrated gas in preparation for its final storage.

Nature, of course, has its own way of storing carbon.

Once trees and other plants have absorbed CO2, the carbon is retained in their tissues.

Todd Forrest, vice president for horticulture at the New York Botanical Gardens, describes trees as "wonderful carbon sinks" and thinks Professor Lackner's proposals are worth investigating, providing the technology is proven.

His vision is to have thousands of artificial trees and estimates that every single one would remove 90,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year - the equivalent emissions of 20,000 cars.

But even if this is possible, could the CO2 collected be stored away forever?

Locked away

Using existing oil drilling technology, channels thousands of metres deep would be bored into the sea bed.

The carbon dioxide gas would be injected into it, permeating the surrounding porous rock.

At this depth and low temperature, the carbon dioxide is denser than water, locking it in place.

"It cannot rise from there to the ocean floor," says Professor Lackner, "so it puts it away literally for millions of years."

It is going to take a great sea change in lifestyles to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to a manageable level.

The growing number of scientists and engineers proposing large-scale geo-engineering projects to combat these emissions say they are reluctant advocates.

Their hope is that humanity will look for and find other carbon-neutral energy sources soon, so that we do not need to resort to such dramatic and intrusive technological interventions.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/6374967.stm
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