A Contrary Opinion

• In 2008, the UK passed the Climate Change Act
• Act sets a goal to decrease the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions 80% by 2050
• Richard Lindzen, an American professor of meteorology gives his opinion of this
• His viewpoint is...
• CO2 will lead to the warming of the Earth, but not any significant amount
• A doubling of the 2008 levels of CO2  will only result in a mere 1ºC increase in temperature
• The fear the CO2  will cause drastic increases in temperature is only based on climate change models that can project incorrectly
• There is no immediate need for alarm, because the effect of the accumulating greenhouse gases is not immediate

Why is incorrect?

• The facts presented by Lindzen are true
• However, if we continued to release greenhouse gases at the rate we currently, the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere 1000 years from now will be substantially greater
• This will increase the amount of solar energy that the atmosphere retains rather than reflects
• Although increased CO2 levels will not have an alarming immediate effect, it has the potential to have a devastating long-term consequence