Comprehending the Climate Crisis: Everything You Need to Know About Global Warming and How to Stop It

By Bradley J. Dibble

Global warming and climate change are complex environmental issues with varying opinions and endless facts available from numerous sources. In Comprehending the Climate Crisis, author Dr. Bradley J. Dibble provides a comprehensive overview of the climate issues facing the world today.

Written for the layperson, Comprehending the Climate Crisis discusses the background science, the problem of global warming, and the solutions available to all of us. Addressing a wide range of topics related to climate, it:

explains where carbon originated and how it found its way on Earth;
details how carbon became incorporated into fossil fuels which now make up the backbone of todays global economy;
describes the composition of the atmosphere before civilizations influence began to alter it;
provides basic scientifi c concepts by way of examples that are easy to understand;
discusses the mechanics of the combustion of fossil fuels and how our dependence on them has led to significant changes in the atmospheres composition; and
addresses solutions available for individuals, families, societies, and governments to consider.

With education as its focus, Comprehending the Climate Crisis arms the public with information to use as a stepping-stone to help save the planet from ourselves and for our future.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Oct 18, 2012
• ISBN: 9781938908231

Bradley J. Dibble

BRADLEY J. DIBBLE by specialty training in cardiology. He practices in Barrie, Ontario. In 2009, he was appointed by the federal minister of the environment to the Sustainable Development Advisory Council. In 2012 he received training from Nobel Laureate and former Vice President Al Gore and now gives frequent talks to the public on climate change. Dr. Dibble lives in Midhurst, Ontario, with his wife, Katherine, and two sons.

Book preview

COMPREHENDING

THE CLIMATE CRISIS

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Everything You Need to Know about

Global Warming and How to Stop It

Bradley J. Dibble, MD

iUniverse, Inc.

Bloomington

COMPREHENDINGTHE CLIMATE CRISIS

Everything You Need to Know about Global Warming and How to Stop It

Copyright © 2012 Bradley J. Dibble, MD

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock and iStockphoto are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock, © iStockphoto.

Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following to reprint previously published material in Pale Blue Dot by Carl Sagan:

Copyright © 1994 Carl Sagan. Reprinted with permission from Democritus Properties, LLC. All rights reserved. This material cannot be further circulated without written permission of Democritus Properties, LLC.

ISBN: 978-1-938908-22-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-938908-23-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012919121

iUniverse rev. date: 10/15/2012

Contents

Preface

Section 1 The Background

1. Earth, Its Atmosphere, and Where Carbon Came From

2. The Carbon Cycle: How Mother Nature Circulates Carbon and Generates Fossil Fuels

Section 2 The Problem

3. Harnessing Energy and How Fossil Fuels Are Used

4. Greenhouse Gases and How They Affect Our Planet

5. Global Warming and Its Devastating Effects

Section 3 The Solutions

6. Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions: The Small Steps You Can Take

7. Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions: The Big Steps Society Can Take

8. Progress Is Slow: Understanding the Resistance to Change

Epilogue

Acknowledgments

Glossary

List of Illustrations

About the Author

For Katherine,

who taught me how to care for my planet,

and for Matthew and Jamie,

the two most important reasons I want to.

You don’t inherit the planet from your parents;

you borrow it from your children.

—ancient Native American proverb

Preface

You may be wondering why a physician would write a book on global warming and the climate crisis. That’s an excellent question that deserves an answer. Right off the bat, I’ll point out that my profession has no direct bearing on how this book came to be. More than anything, I am simply a concerned citizen who also happens to be a physician. That said, however, I do believe those who have dedicated themselves to a career in medicine might have something unique to offer to the efforts at tackling environmental issues, but I’ll explain that more a little later.

First, I’ll start with the plain and simple truth. This book is the result of a personal journey. Like many of you, I care about the environment. I want to leave behind a planet that my children and grandchildren can thrive in. I drive a hybrid, do my best to turn off the lights when leaving a room, purchase energy-efficient appliances, and shop for local food. And like many people, I was particularly inspired after seeing the film An Inconvenient Truth with former vice president Al Gore. It managed to bring an unprecedented level of information to the mainstream consciousness, and ultimately, Gore won both an Oscar for the film and a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in tackling the problem. To me, the issues seemed self-evident. Anyone who didn’t agree that this was a problem that needed a solution either was unaware of the facts and thus denying the science involved or perhaps had a personal interest in those industries dependent on fossil fuels, so they were putting personal profits ahead of doing what’s right to help the planet.

But some of the criticisms against going green didn’t always seem completely outlandish. Sure, nuclear power is a source of electricity that doesn’t add greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, but what about the problem of nuclear waste disposal? And didn’t I read somewhere that the carbon footprint of manufacturing a wind turbine is pretty sizable and that it takes many years of use before it finally becomes carbon-neutral, let alone green? On top of that, those wind turbines were reported as being effective only when positioned in reliably consistent and strong sources of wind; this means they have to be remotely located, away from most urban areas, which isn’t very practical on a large scale. And if pursuing alternate sources of energy was the right thing to do, why weren’t governments taking immediate action to effect the necessary changes? Why hadn’t every country been embracing the Kyoto Protocol without question? Why was it an ultimately unsuccessful struggle to reach a useful accord in Copenhagen in 2010? And why did all of the suggested solutions to help—ideas such as clean coal, carbon capture and storage, and renewable sources of energy—seem to have counterarguments against them? Some of these counterarguments were admittedly a bit far-fetched, but certainly not all of them.

To better educate myself on the complexities of these issues, I started to explore these subjects in greater detail. There are a number of books on the topic of global warming and the climate crisis, with new ones being published every week, it seems. But every one I read touched only on certain aspects of the bigger picture. It was easy to find books on the science behind greenhouse gas emissions and climbing carbon dioxide levels, but these were usually written in exhaustive detail beyond the interest or understanding of the average person. Other publications simply listed what we need to do to reduce our carbon footprint without explaining the science behind why we should even consider it. Fewer still seemed to address the aspects of how making these changes would affect the global economy, either positively or negatively. Interestingly, I was never able to find a book that gave a comprehensive overview of all aspects of the issues at hand, especially in a manner that was easily within the grasp of the average reader and not only those who already had a working knowledge of the science involved. Where was the book a concerned citizen could go to in order to learn the basics?

Since I couldn’t find such a book, leading me to the conclusion that perhaps it didn’t exist, I decided that maybe I could do something to help fill that void. And so I did, and you are now holding in your hands the result of that decision. This book was written with the assumption that you want to know the pertinent issues. My goal is to arm you with a working knowledge on the broad aspects of this complicated subject, allowing you to participate in meaningful discussions around these topics without having to be a scientist or employed in an industry connected to energy. I wanted to write a book that could be read over a weekend, ideally from beginning to end, but could also be scanned in sections if only certain topics were of particular interest or for reference.

As a strong believer in science, I trust what the facts tell me. Those who deny that carbon dioxide levels are increasing or dispute that such a rise is contributing to increasing global temperatures will probably not get as much out of this book as those with an open mind. In my experience, skeptics are a difficult group to persuade away from their beliefs. As US Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan once said, Each of us is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts. To me, the facts speak for themselves, and for the sake of completeness, they are reviewed here so that you can understand them clearly as well.

While trying to learn about the issues surrounding the climate and global warming, I ended up exploring many different areas in science: chemistry, biology, geology, cosmology, and physics. To better understand the hurdles to solving some of these problems, I also had to learn about political science, the workings of government, economics, and psychology. To ensure that you too have useful information on all of the concepts pertinent to global warming and the climate crisis, this book leads you through some aspects of these branches of knowledge as well, both the scientific and the socioeconomic. However, I promise that nothing is too complicated, and everything is presented in a simple and straightforward manner so that you can appreciate every aspect of how these areas pertain to the climate crisis, even if you’ve never studied any of them previously. At the end of each chapter I list what I consider to be the key concepts that were covered. I also list some suggested books for further reading if you wish to explore any of those concepts in greater detail. Any references within each chapter are listed there as well.

This book is divided into three sections. Section 1 primarily deals with the background science, covering where carbon originated, how it found its way on Earth, and how it got into the fossil fuels that have become the backbone of the global economy. It also describes the composition of the atmosphere before that point in time when our civilization’s influence began to alter it—that is, the era prior to the Industrial Revolution of the eighteenth century. This section also takes you through some basic scientific concepts by way of examples that will help you to more easily understand topics discussed later in the book.

Section 2 covers the mechanics of the combustion of fossil fuels and how our dependence on them has led to significant changes in the atmosphere’s composition along with the results of those changes, both observed and predicted.

Section 3 addresses some of the solutions that are available to consider, for individuals and families as well as for societies and governments. It stands to follow that there are hurdles to embracing these solutions, and these will also be addressed. By the time you finish section 3, you will have a good understanding of what is meant by sustainable development, a term that I believe will help define the twenty-first century but that has yet to become part of the mainstream vocabulary.

As I stated earlier, the origins of this book have little to do with my profession. As I went through the process of writing it, however, I came to realize that as a physician, and as a cardiologist in particular, I might have some qualifications that I can offer to help educate the public about the issues at hand. First of all, I have a broad interest and education in science, and this has helped me to embrace much of the background story of the climate crisis. I find that carbon and its important role on our planet is a frequently neglected topic in general books on global warming. Second, as someone who frequently has to explain complicated subjects to patients in a way that helps them understand well enough to make informed decisions about the next steps they should take, I’ve become pretty good at distilling down complexities and providing a more basic version of the bigger picture, usually with good success. (Given the number of times—about fifty a year—that I am invited to provide lectures to other physicians for continuing medical education and to give public talks on issues related to health, it seems enough people out there think I’m capable of providing some useful education.)

And finally, I believe that as physicians, we should care about the health of everyone and not only the patients who happen to visit us in our offices. On this point there are a number of physicians who agree with me: as a member of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, I am one of almost five thousand doctors in Canada who consider it important to tackle the broader issues of health, including the environment. (You can learn more about this important and worthwhile organization at www.cape.ca.)

Because of the extremely complex nature of the climate crisis and its potential solutions, I don’t believe any one individual has all of the answers. I certainly don’t, and for that reason, I’m not going to preach. I endeavour to be as factual as possible, but my opinions will be evident when I think I need to declare them. The truth is, I still wrestle with what I think is the best way for our planet to tackle some of these problems. When trying to envision the solutions to these problems, I think it’s relatively easy to imagine how the green future we’re striving toward might look; it’s something else altogether to visualize how we’re going to get ourselves there and how long it’s going to take. I believe the path of our transition will be the toughest aspect to predict.

Education is the key. If more people understand these issues, then more people can begin to contribute toward finding solutions. Reading this book will get you on the path to being one of those individuals. My sincerest hope is that you can use the information contained in these pages as a stepping-stone to helping save this planet from ourselves and for our future.

Section 1

The Background

Chapter 1

Earth, Its Atmosphere, and Where Carbon Came From

Space travel has given us

a new appreciation for the Earth.

We realize that the Earth is special.

We’ve seen it from afar.

We realize that the Earth is the only

natural home for man we know of,

and that we had better protect it.

—James Irwin, American astronaut

Have you seen the most famous photograph ever taken? It’s been featured so many times in so many places that it’s become instantly recognizable to almost everyone on the planet. Before you purchased this book, there’s a high likelihood that you’d seen it before, but just in case you’ve forgotten what it looks like I’ve incorporated it into this book’s title page so you can check it out. It’s a spectacular image of Earth taken through a tiny window from Apollo 17 on December 7, 1972, by crew members Gene Cernan, Ronald Evans, and Jack Schmitt, about five hours into their trip to the moon when the capsule was about 45,000 kilometres or 28,000 miles from Earth. (Credit for the photo is generally shared because no one is sure which astronaut took this particular shot.)

Of all the photos taken of our home planet by the Apollo missions, this one proved to be the most stunning because it offered a full Earth in all her majesty. Apollo 17 was the only Apollo mission to witness Earth almost completely illuminated by the sun while it was heading to the moon. All of the other missions had only partial views of Earth. (The moon doesn’t always have a full Earth in the same way that we don’t always have a full moon.) It was an early December morning in North America, about 5:30 a.m. EST, so Africa is easily seen during its daytime hours. Since it was only two weeks before the winter solstice, Antarctica is easily spotted at the bottom of the photo because the South Pole points toward the sun at that time of year. The Apollo 17 crew didn’t know that the photo they took would become one of the most reproduced images of all time. They had a job to do, and they did it. But we’re forever in their debt because 99 percent of pictures showing the planet Earth are this very image. Nothing else to that point in our civilization’s history had ever done a better job of making us realize how special our home is than that single photo.

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Earth’s atmosphere visible from space.

Since the Apollo missions ended and humans stopped visiting the moon, our astronauts have stayed much closer to home, generally hugging the planet rather than leaving it, at least relative to the days of Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Alan Shepherd. Since those early days of space flight, the vast majority of photos taken of Earth have been from orbiting satellites, from astronauts on shuttles, or from the International Space Station. These modern-day images of our home planet are taken much closer to Earth and can’t capture it in its entirety the way Apollo 17 did.

The next time you look at one of these more recent pictures, pay particular attention to the thin blue strip surrounding the surface of our planet. You probably haven’t noticed it before because it’s much easier to spot the swirling white clouds, the bright blue oceans, and the interesting and varied land masses composed of dark green forests and light brown deserts. (It’s also possible that the thin blue strip isn’t there depending on how the photo has been modified for the publication you’re reading, but if it’s been reproduced properly, it should be noticeable. In black and white photos, it will appear gray.) That thin blue strip is extremely important to you and me: it’s Earth’s atmosphere, a truly remarkable component of our planet.

Relatively speaking, it’s a rather small part of the whole picture, so it’s understandable that it gets so little attention. It would be equivalent in scope to a layer of varnish on a basketball. Despite it being such a tiny part of our planet as a whole, we have to appreciate that we live out our entire lives within this thin blue strip. Just think about what happens here: it’s all of our weather, from every summer breeze you’ve ever enjoyed to the most powerful thunderstorms, hurricanes, and tornados; it’s our means of travel, not just for every sailboat that uses the winds to set sail to, or for every plane that has flown through it, but also for every vehicle on the road that requires the combustion of gasoline or diesel in the presence of oxygen in order for the motor to work.

Some of the beautiful vistas we take for granted are due to the presence of this atmosphere as well: every sunrise and sunset, every rainbow, every twinkling star that young children wish on, and the northern lights—also known as the aurora borealis and generally seen in latitudes closer to the North Pole—wouldn’t exist were it not for this thin blue strip. (There’s an equivalent phenomenon called the aurora australis, or the southern lights, located at the South Pole, but with less of the global population living near that part of the world, it isn’t as well known.)

And most importantly, of course, life itself depends on this thin blue strip: we breathe in oxygen

Reviews for Comprehending the Climate Crisis

[bradleyjdibble · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Comprehending the Climate Crisis is a great source for anyone interested in learning about this important problem we are all facing and how to fix it.