ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUE:

“The good news is we know what to do. The good news is we have everything we need now to respond to the challenge of global warming. We have all the technologies we need, more are being developed, and as they become available and become more affordable when produced in scale, they will make it easier to respond. But we should not wait, we cannot wait, we must not wait.” (Al Gore Sept 9, 2005)

“There is a window of opportunity of avoiding the most damaging climate change impacts, but that window is closing: the world has less than a decade to change course. Actions taken or not taken in the years ahead will have a profound bearing on the future course of human development. The world lacks neither the financial resources nor the technological capabilities to act. What is missing is a sense of urgency, collective interest and above all human solidarity”
(UNDP Report on Human Development, 2008)


Causes of climate change:
• Solar output
• Orbital variations
• Volcanism
• Ocean variability

GREEN HOUSE GASES:
• Major ones are:
• Carbon dioxide
• Nitrogen oxide
• Methane
• Water vapour

Copenhagen climate change summit 2009:

•From 7 December environment ministers and officials will meet in Copenhagen for the United Nations climate conference to decide on a successor to the Kyoto protocol

•How much are industrialized countries willing to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases?

•How much are major developing countries such as China and India willing to do to limit the growth of their emissions?

•How is the help needed by developing countries to engage in reducing their emissions and adapting to the impacts of climate change going to be financed?

•How is that money going to be managed?

OZONE LAYER AND CLIMATE CHANGE:
•According to modern scientific theories, carbon dioxide is driving global climate change.

•Ozone depletion, on the other hand, is not a major force behind global warming.

•However they are connected in some ways.

•Ozone gas in the troposphere (below the ozone layer) and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which have helped cause the ozone hole, are greenhouse gases