Week 8 - Looking ahead

Well i've finally reached the last week of the course and this weeks theme is looking ahead. 

Anthroposcene

The Anthropocene is an informal geologic chronological term for the proposed epoch that began when human activities had a significant global impact on the Earth's ecosystems.

What will the climate be like in 1000 years when fossil fuels have all been burnt away? We recently reached a milestone in the levels of carbon dioxide in out atmosphere. In May of 2013, we reached 400 parts per million. If we continue to burn the known 4,000 billion tonnes of fossil fuels, then we expect carbon dioxide levels to rise to 1,500 parts per million around the year 2300.  Temperatures are set to increase in the next century by 8 degrees. If we burn the known fossil fuels, we will enter a persistent hot state that will prevent ice ages for hundreds of thousands of years which is the new Anthroposcene epoch. We will see sea levels could rise by tens of metres, new shallow seas inundating the low-lying parts of the world and a distinctive new layer of sedimentary rocks being deposited in them. 

How have we impacted the landscape? Since the pre-historic era humans have used stone for implements and began to excavate soil and rock. An estimated 57 000 million tonnes of earth and rock is shifted annually by humans, whereas only 22 000 million tonnes of sediment is annually transported by our rivers and oceans. The rate and amount of sediment moved correlates with increasing population. The earliest signs of the Anthroposcene era was in the Neolithic period when humans moved from hunter gatherers to farming and settlement. The beginning of the Antrhoposcene is general regarded to have started in the 1800s. 

Action

As our understanding of carbon emissions improves we also find better ways in which we can modify our actions to get the best results.

In 1997, the Kyoto Protocol committed industrialised nations to reduce their carbon emissions. But the protocol expires in 2020, and the United Nations are working on a new agreement to keep climate change within safe levels of less than two degrees of global warming above the pre-industrial level. To achieve this globally we will need to reduce the carbon emissions by 60% but this is pretty hard to do when developing countries are still trying to industrialise so developed nations need to work even harder.

Acting globally is hard to get results to meet the targets we set so they way forward is to get everyone to act locally and this cumulative approach will make it easier to reach the targets.

1. "Think globally, act locally" or "Think global, act local" has been used in various contexts, including planning, environment, education, mathematics, and business.

Understanding your carbon footprint and what you can do in your own home.

There are a variety of ways that you can reduce your carbon footprint at home, these include:

• Energy saving lighting
• Insulation
• Efficient heating and hot water methods
• Electrical appliances with efficient energy consumption
• Swithing off lights and taking electrical items off standby
• Savinf water
• Using smart meters
• Using public transport or taking less car journeys

Carbon footprint

1. 

   
   

   A carbon footprint is historically defined as "the total sets of greenhouse gas emissions caused by an organization, event, product or person." The total carbon footprintcannot be calculated because of the large amount of data required and the fact that carbon dioxide can be produced by natural occurrences.

I took the carbon footprint test on the WWF website and it says that it would take 1.98 planets if everyone lived the same way as me. Oh blimey! I certainly didn't think that I was as bad as that. I'm vegetarian, work at home on occasion or drive  to the next town for work ( I have to drive as I have a lot of kit and and a category 1 responder), I walk wherever I can, don't buy a lot of shopping goods/electrical items etc, I use charity shops and free book shops. But I am now going to receive tips to help me reduce my carbon footprint.

http://www.sustainablebabysteps.com/think-global-act-local.html

http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22029371.700-the-future-of-the-climate-is-still-in-our-hands.html#.VP3i2inA5je
http://footprint.wwf.org.uk/home