One of the Energy Saving Warehouse’s principals is to ‘save carbon’. But what is carbon and why should we save it? In this article I am going to attempt to explain what carbon is, why we need to save it and what may happen if we don’t. It isn’t intended to be an exhaustive essay, just a simple explanation. It is also only a reproduction of what the scientific community (at large) is telling us. None of what follows has been made up by me so please don’t shout at me if you don’t agree – I’m simply the messenger.

What is carbon?

Carbon is referring to the gas carbon dioxide, or CO₂. This is a gas that is everywhere on the planet; in the air, in our bodies, in our fizzy drinks and, most importantly in this case, in our atmosphere. The atmosphere is made up of a plethora of different gases including the famous ‘greenhouse gases’, which include, water vapour, ozone, chlorofluorocarbons, methane, nitrous oxide, and carbon dioxide. These are the gases that are responsible for keeping the Earth warm and sustaining life. Without these gases, our planet’s average temperature would be about 33˚C cooler than it is now. CO₂ and the other greenhouse gases work by trapping heat from incoming solar radiation (sunlight) inside the atmosphere, while the rest is radiated back out into space. The Earth – over the last 4.5 billion years – has struck a very fine balance and combination of CO₂ along with the other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, absorbing and exhaling of just the right amounts of solar radiation to keep us, and every living thing on the planet alive. Humanity, however, is pumping more and more carbon into the air so that there is now too much.

Imagine, if you will, that CO₂ is a like a blanket surrounding the earth, much as a blanket covers you in bed. Constantly adding more covers onto this blanket will make you too hot, especially if you have no way of removing the extra covers. The result would be that you would get sweaty, irritable and wouldn’t sleep very well. Much the same thing is happening to the planet. As well as getting too hot, the earth is reacting to this increase in temperature by changing its climate, for instance producing more rainfall. This is what we call climate change. In years gone by the term more commonly used was ‘global warming’, but scientists have shied away from this phrase as it implies a simple rise in temperature. The truth is far more complicated.

The causes of climate change

So, we know that CO₂ contributes to climate change, but where does it come from? First of all, CO₂ is a naturally occurring gas that is essential to life on Earth, without it animals, plants and trees would not survive. The Carbon we’re concerned with is the man-made stuff, or ‘anthropogenic carbon emissions’. These come from a variety of sources, but the biggest offender is the burning of fossil fuels: natural gas, coal and oil. These fossil fuels come from organic matter that has decayed over millions of years and is now buried deep underground (dead dinosaurs and such like). When these fossil fuels are burned they release the carbon – among other things – that has been stored in them for millennia, straight into the atmosphere.

As humans in an industrial society, our biggest domestic emissions of carbon come from:

• Driving our cars: As the petrol is burned it releases CO₂ into the atmosphere via the exhaust pipe.
• Using electricity: TV’s, lights, computers, kettles, mobiles, laptops, games consoles, fridges, dishwashers, etc. Note: Now, I know what you may be thinking; “but these devises don’t emit carbon, how can they be responsible for climate change?” This is true they don’t emit CO₂. But, whenever you use electricity in your home, the power station that’s supplying the electricity has to burn fossil fuels – usually coal or gas – and this emits vast amounts of carbon, and other pollutants.
• Heating our homes and our water: The CO₂ here comes directly from the gas boiler.
• Cooking our food also burns gas and releases carbon.
• Many, many other activities that go on day to day as part of our society emit CO₂, but for now I’m concentrating solely on our domestic emissions.

The signs, and symptoms of climate change

Apart from the obvious changes in global temperatures, we could witness a dramatic increase in extreme weather events, such as hurricanes, droughts, heat waves and floods. The results of this maybe global shortages of food due to crop failures, mass migrations, our first major war over water rights and naturally, those infamous melting polar caps and rising sea levels. But then again, some people say nothing will happen and world will be fine. It’s up to you to look at the evidence, decide what you believe and act on it.

Is climate change really happening?

Yes.

Is climate change man-made?

Yes and no. The planet creates plenty of its own CO₂ and maybe the recorded increases in carbon levels are due solely to this – but most climate scientists don’t really believe that. There are many people who argue that, historically, the Earth has experienced many fluctuations in temperature and we are unnecessarily worried about it happening again. However, remember that these fluctuations were caused by the natural processes of the planet and happened so slowly that many species had time to adapt and evolve. What we are doing by increasing CO₂ levels is disrupting the planet’s natural ability to regulate its climate, and we are also doing it at such a rapid pace that most species, including us, may not be able to adapt in time.

To add to that, we are exacerbating the problem by cutting down vast areas of rain forest – the lungs of the world; polluting our oceans –the biggest absorber of CO; filling the ground with rubbish; and spilling oil and other toxins all over the place.

Why all the uncertainty?

Because the climate of the future is extremely hard to predict. An immense amount of different factors affect the planet’s climate system and they are forever in flux. Predicting exactly what’s going to happen is fraught with uncertainty, and is one reason that there are so many ‘global warming sceptics’ out there*. Put it this way, if the BBC weather says that it will be sunny tomorrow, you will probably believe them. If they say it will sunny in a week, you may be a bit more sceptical. What would you think if they said that on this day next year it will be partly cloudy in the morning, sunny in the afternoon, with a touch of rain for the evening? I know that I wouldn’t believe them. This is the same with climate change. In a hundred years from now we can’t really say with any certainty what’s going to happen, but we do know that too high a concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere will have an effect. We’re just not sure exactly what that may be. I’m all for erring on the side of caution.

*See also Andrew Brooks’ article, Climategate on the learning portal, for another, interesting look at climate change scepticism.

How do we stop it?

Good question. In essence (and to keep within the simplicity of this article), we have to curb our greenhouse gas emissions back to a level akin with King Arthur’s time. No, just joking. Obviously it’s not that drastic, but emissions do need to be reduced severely, and the longer we go on without mitigating it, the more painful and expensive it will be to adapt to it. Also remember that it takes over a hundred years for CO₂ to dissipate in the atmosphere, so whatever we do, we need to do it now.

So what can we all do?

Basically, save energy at work and home. Reduce your impact on Mother Earth. The options are far too many and varied to go into here, but to find out more, have a look at other articles on the Energy Saving Warehouse website and also elsewhere in the media.

I appreciate that the issue of climate change is a contentious one and jam-packed full of uncertainty, but there is a real and present danger that we are headed for a disaster of biblical proportions. If you have read this article and it has sparked a little interest on your part, then please look further into the issue, it is extremely wide-ranging and interesting.