ABSTRACT
Climate change is undoubtedly complex, since it invokes myriad interconnected issues of the already complex subject areas of meteorology, environmental change, economics and politics. However, in essence, the phenomenon is actually quite straightforward and unambiguous, belying the contention that surrounds it. ‘Greenhouse gases’ in the atmosphere raise temperatures by trapping a proportion of solar radiation reflecting off the surface of the Earth. The amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has been rising and the world’s mean temperature has been rising. Greenhouse gases and temperatures have risen and fallen in the past, but have never risen at the rate that they currently are and have been since industrialization began adding carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere beyond that which occurs naturally in the carbon cycle. As discussed in the previous chapter, this reality has yet to be reflected in international policy, despite concerted efforts to communicate the message from the likes of Gore and, in particular, the IPCC (see Box 7.1).
