- Transport accounts for around 1/3 of global CO2 emissions - By 1995 humans were using on average 24 billion barrels of oil per year but only 9.6 billion were being discovered. - 100 tonnes of ancient plant life (millions of years old) is required to create 4 litres of petrol. - In 1997 (one year) around 422 years of fossil sunlight was used (burned) for our convenience. - We’re already using 20% more biomass than the planet can sustainably provide. In 1986 we had 5 billion people and that was the point when we were using all Earth’s sustainable production. - Between 1800 – 1980 humans produced 244 petajoules of energy. Between 1980 to 1999 we used 117 petajoules, almost half of the previous 180 years. - It is expected that the human population will level out in 2050 at 9 billion people at which point we will be using almost 2 planets worth of resources. |
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The European summer of 2003 killed 26,000 people during June and July and was so hot that, statistically speaking, such an event should occur no more often than every 46,000 years. - There have been two ‘Magic Gates’ 1976 and 1998 when there was a dramatic leap in climate change. - Between 1945-1955 the surface of the tropical Pacific dropped below 19.2 degrees. Since 1976 it has rarely dropped below 25. - 1997-8 was ‘the year the Earth caught fire’. Fires burned on ever continent – 10 million hectares in SE Asia 1/3 being ancient rainforest and 5 million hectares in Borneo. This is part (probably a major part) of why global temperatures increased by 0.3 degrees. - From 1840 to 1950 the sea ice remained stable since then 20% of the ice has decreased - It is estimated that a 3-degree rise will kill the Great Barrier Reef, along with many of the oceans reefs. |
- The Greenland ice cap has enough water to raise the sea levels globally by around 7 metres. In the summer of 2002 it, along with the Arctic ice cap, shrank by 1 million square kilometres. - Warm water occupies more space than cold water so thermal expansion also increases sea levels. - For every 10 degrees increase in temperature the amount of water vapour that air can hold doubles – thus air at 30 degrees holds 4 times as much hurricane fuel as air at 10 degrees - One gram of water of from our skin is sufficient to transfer 580 calories of heat In 2002 the Larsen B ice shelf broke up in a matter of weeks. At an area of 3250 square kilometres it was the size of Luxembourg. - In October 2004 scientists lead by NASA discovered large sections of the Amundsen ice plain where so thin that it was similar to Larsen B prior to collapse. This could be as little as five years off and if it did there is enough ice in it to raise global sea levels by 1.3 metres. If all the ice melts in the Earth the seas will raise by 67 metres – how we act now depends on if we can prevent it. |